COMPILATION 

OF 



LAW5 AND DLCISIONS 



RELATING TO THE 



COMMON SCHOOL SYSTLM 



AND 



List of State Educational Institutions 



OF 



GEORGIA 



"There shall be a thorough system of conmion schools for the educa- 
tion of children in the elementary. branches of an English education only, 
as nearly uniform as practicable, the expenses of which shall be provided 
for by taxation, or otherwise. The schools shall be free to all children of 
the State, but separate schools will be provided for the white and colored 
races." — Constitution of State of Georgia, Article VIII, Section 1, 

' * For every pound you save in education, you will spend five in prose- 
cutions, in prisons, in penal settlements." — ^Lobd MACAtriAT. 



1909 



ATLANTAJGA. 

Btbd Printins Co., Statb Pbintbbs. 

1900 



x- 



COMPILATION 



OF 



LAWS AND DLCI5IONS tH 



RELATING TO THE 



COMMON SCHOOL 5Y5TLM 



AND 



List of State Educational Institutions 



OF 



GEORGIA 



"There shall be a thorough system of common schools for the educa- 
tion of children in the elementary branches of an English education only, 
as nearly uniform as practicable, the expenses of which shall be provided 
for by taxation, or otherwise. The schools shall be free to all children of 
the State, but separate schools will be provided for the white and colored 
races." — Constitution of State of Georgia, Article VIII, Section 1. 

"For every pound you save in education, you will spend five in prose- 
cutions, in prisons, in penal settlements." — ^Lord Macaulay. 



1909 



ATLANTA, GA. 

Bthd Printing Co., State Pbinters. 

1909 






'^ 



^ 



^,0.^^ 



D. OF D. 

FEB 1^ ^^^^ 



*2vO <« For every pound you save in education, you will spend five in prose- 

^^-z" cutions, in prisons, in penal settlements." — L,ord Macaui,ay. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Part I. — State Board of Education. 

Part II. — State School Commissioner. 

Part III. — County Board of Education. 

Part IV. — County School Commissioner. 

Part V. — Financial. 

Part VI. — Long Term Schools. 

Part VII. — County Institutes. 

Part VIII. — Examination of Applicants for License to 
Teach. 

Part IX. — School Census. 

Part X. — Miscellaneous. 

Part XL — Uniform Text-book Law. 

Part XIL — Local Tax Law. 

Part XIII. — Child Labor Law and State Eeformatory 
Law. 

Part XIV. — Extracts from Decisions and Instructions 
of State School Commissioners. 

Part XV. — Extracts from Decisions of State Board of 
Education. 

Part XVI. — Extracts from Opinions of Attorney-Gen- 
eral. 

Part XVII. — Extracts from Decisions of Supreme 
Court. 

Part XVIII. — List of State Educational Institutions. 

Part XIX. — State Adopted Books and Course of Study. 



Among the duties of parents to their children is that of giving them 
an education, suitable to their situation in life; a duty pointed out by 
reason as of the greatest importance. For, as Puffendorf well observed, 
it is not easy to imagine or allow that a parent has conferred any consid- 
erable benefit upon his child by bringing him into the world, if he after- 
wards entirely neglects to culture his education and suffer him to grow up 
like a mere beast to lead a life useless to others and shameless to him- 
self." — Sir William Blackstone. 



D. Of 0' 

FEB ^^ ^^^ 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



PART I. 

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Members. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
the State of Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by author- ^^^^ ^^ 
ity of the same, That the Governor, the Attorney-Gen- iss?, page 
eral, the Secretary of State, the Comptroller- General, 
and the State School Commissioner shall constitute thef 
Georgia State Board of Education. Of this Board the 
Governor shall be ex-officio President, and the State 
School Commissioner the chief executive officer. The 
Clerk of the State School Commissioner, as hereinafter 
provided for, shall be the clerk of the State Board of 
Education. He shall be the custodian of its records, 
papers, and effects, and shall keep minutes of its pro- 
ceedings, and said records, papers, and minutes shall be 
kept in the office of the Commissioner, and shall be open 
to inspection. 

Meeting — Quorum. 

Sec. 2. That the said Board shall meet, upon the call 
of its President or a majority of its members, at the Acts of 
office of the State School Commissioner at the Capitol, es. ' ^^^^ 
or at such other place as may be designated in the call. 
A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum for 
transacting business. 

Donations for educational purposes. 



Sec. 3. That said Board may take and hold, to it and 
its successors, in trust for the State, any grant or devise 
of lands, or any donation or bequest of money, or other 
personal property, mad^ to it for educational purposes. 



6 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

and shall forthwith place in the hands of the Treasurer 
of the State for safe-keeping all moneys and personal 
property so received, and titles to land, taking therefor 
a receipt from said officer. When it is evidently the in- 
tention of the doner or devisor that the corpus of mon- 
eys thus received is not to be used, the General Assem- 
bly may, from time to time, invest said moneys in the 
name of the State; provided, that all moneys obtained 
under this section, together with the profits accruing 
from investment, shall be subject to use only for educa- 
tional purposes. The Treasurer of the State shall pay 
to the order of the Board the income or principal thereof 
as said Board may, from time to time, require in pursu- 
ance of law, but no disposition of any devise, donation 
or bequest shall be made inconsistent with the conditions 
or tenor of the devise, donation or bequest. For the 
faithful keeping of all property or moneys so received 
by the Treasurer, he shall be responsible upon his bond 
to the State, as for other funds received by him in his 
official capacity. 

Seal. 

Sec. 4. That the State Board of Education shall pro- 
^^7, ?age cure a suitable seal, which shall be used for the authenti- 
cation of the acts of the Board and the important acts 
of the State School Commissioner. 

Advisory body — hears appeals from decisions of State School 
Commissioner. 

Sec. 5. That the State Board of Education shall con- 
Acts of stitute an advisory body, with whom the State School 
1887, page Commisslouer shall have the right to consult when he 
is in doubt as to his official duty ; and also a body in the 
nature of a court to which appeals shall be made from 
the decision of the State School Commissioner upon any 
question touching the construction or administration of 
the school laws; and the decision of the State Board, 
when rendered, shall be final and conclusive upon the 
matter in issue. Appeals to the State Board must be 



School Laws. 7 

made through the County Commissioner in writing, and 
must distinctly set forth the question at law, as well as 
the facts, in the case upon which the appeal is taken. 
Upon any question involving the construction or admin- 
istration of the school laws, the concurrence of a major- 
ity of the whole Board shall be necessary in order to 
give validity to the decision. 

Additional Duties of State Board of Education. 

As state Schoolbook Commission, State Board is re- 
quired to select text-books for the common schools of 
the State. (See Part xi.) 



8 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

PAETII. 

STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONER. 

Election — charged with administration of school law and 
superintendence of common school affairs. 

Section 1. There shall be a State School Commis- 
^887^ pige sioner elected by the people at the same time and man- 
^^- ner as the Governor and State-house officers are elected, 

whose term of office shall be two years and until his suc- 
cessor is elected and qualified. His office shall be at the 
seat of government and he shall be paid a salary not to 
exceed two thousand dollars (^2,000) per annum. The 
G-eneral Assembly may substitute for the State School 
Commissioner such officer or officers as may be deemed 
necessary to perfect the system of public education. He 
shall be charged with the administration of the school 
Acts of laws, and a general superintendence of the business re- 

1887 DEffe / o X 

69. ' lating to the common schools of the State. He shall 

prescribe suitable forms for the reports required of su- 
bordinate school officers and blanks for their guidance 
in transacting their official business, and shall, from 
time to time, prepare and transmit to them such instruc- 
tions as he may deem necessary for the faithful and 
efficient execution of the school laws, and by whatsoever 
is thus communicated to them shall they be bound to 
govern themselves in the discharge of their official duty ; 
provided, nevertheless, there shall always be an appeal 
from the State School Commissioner to the State Board 
of Education as hereinbefore enacted. 

Some specific duties — contents of Annual Report. 

^^7^ page Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the State School 

^^- Commissioner to visit, as often as possible, the several 

counties of the State for the purpose of examining into 

the administration of the school law in said counties, of 

counseling with school officers, of delivering popular ad- 



State School Commissioner. 9 

dresses, of inspecting school operations, and of doing 
such other acts as he may deem subservient to the inter- 
ests of popular education. 

Sec. 3. The State School Commissioner shall see 
that the proper actions 'provided by law are brought Acta of 
against all officers and agents of the system, who are 70. ' ^^^^ 
liable to the same, for misappropriation of the school 
fund or other cause. 

Sec. 4. That the State School Commissioner shall 
make an annual report to the General Assembly, in 
which he shall present a statement of the condition and 
amount of all funds and property appropriated to the 
purpose of public education ; a statement of the number 
of common and public schools of the various grades, in 
the State; the number of scholars attending such 
schools ; their sex, color, and the branches taught ; a ^t? "'^^^ 
•statement of the average cost per scholar of instruction as- 
under the common school system in each county; a 
statement of the plans for the management, extension 
and improvement of the common schools; a statement 
of the number of children of school age in the State, 
with as much accuracy as the same can be ascertained; 
also, a statement of the number of private schools and 
colleges of the different kinds in the State ; the number 
of pupils in such schools or colleges ; their sex, the 
branches taught, the average cost of tuition per scholar 
in said schools and colleges. 

Salary and expenses of office — oath. 

Sec. 5. That the State School Commissioner shall be 
entitled to receive for his services the sum of two thou- 
sand dollars annually in quarterly installments. All i887, page 
his necessary traveling expenses incurred in the per- 
formance of his official duties, and all postage and other 
expenses absolutely necessary arising in his office, shall 
be paid by the State. He shall also be entitled to em- 
ploy one clerk to aid him in his official duties. His clerk 
shall receive an annual salary, not exceeding twelve 



10 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

hundred dollars, to be paid quarterly. The salaries 
and other expenses named in this section shall be paid 
out of the State school fund on executive warrant. It 
shall also be the duty of said Commissioner to keep an 
itemized account of all expenses connected with his de- 
partment, which account shall be audited by the State 
Board of Education. 

Acts of Sec. 6. That before entering upon the discharge of 

1887, page jj^g Qf][j(.ja^i duties, the said Commissioner shall take and 

subscribe to the same oath required of other officers of 

this State. 

Additional Duties of State School Commissioner. 

State School Commissioner is member of State Board 
of Eduation (Part 1, Sec. 1) ; uses seal (Part 1, Sec. 4) ; 
is member of Geological Board (Acts of 1894, page 111).. 



County Boakd of Education. 11 

PAET III. 
COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Each county a school district. 

Section 1 That hereafter each and every county in 
the State shall compose one school district, and shall be Acts of 
confided to the control and management of a County nf ' ^"^* 
Board of Education. 

Selection, qualification and term of office of members of 
County Board of Education — Compensation. 

Sec. 2. That the grand jury of each county (except 
those counties which are under a local system) in this Acts of 
State shall from time to time select from the citizens of e?^' ^*^® 
their respective counties five freeholders, who shall con- 
stitute the County Board of Education. Said members 
shall be elected for the term of four years, and shall 
hold their offices until their successors shall be elected 
and qualified; provided, however, that no publisher of 
school-books, nor any agent for such publisher, nor any 
person who shall be pecuniarily interested in the sale of 
school-books, shall be eligible for election as member of 
any Board of Education or as County School Commis- 
sioner of any county in this State; provided further, 
that whenever there is in a portion of any county a local 
school system having a Board of Education of its own, ^^^^ ^^ 
and receiving its pro rata of the public school fund ^^s7, page 
directly from the State School Commissioner, and hav- 
ing no dealings whatever with the County Board of 
Education, then the members of the County Board of , 

Education of such county shall be selected from that 
portion of the county not embraced within the territory 
covered by such local system. 

See Part xiv, Note 4. 

See Part xv, Note 1. ' . : . , 



i^ CoMPiLATio]sr OP Common" School Laws. 

Sec. 3. That the members of the Board of Educa- 
Acts of ^^^^ ^^ ®^*^^ county shall be paid a per diem not to ex- 

1887, page ceed two dollars for each day's actual service out of the 



87, 



school fund approportioned to the county; and their 
accounts for service shall be submitted for approval to 
the Ordinary or County School Commissioner; and 
they shall not receive any other compensation, such as 
exemption from road and jury duty. 

Certification of election — removal from office — vacancies. 

Sec. 4. That whenever members of a County Board 
are elected or appointed in pursuance of the provisions 
im, page of the above section, it shall be the duty of the Clerk of 
^^- ' the Superior Court to forward to the State School Com- 

missioner a certified statement of the facts, under the 
seal of the court, signed officially by him, as evidence 
upon which to issue commissions, and the correspond- 
ing evidence of the election of a County Commissioner 
shall be the certified statement of the Secretary pro tern. 
of the meeting of the Board at which the .election was 
held. Any member or members of the County Board 
of Education shall be removable by the judges of the 
Superior Court of the county, on the address of two- 
thirds of the grand jury, for inefficiency, incapacity, 
general neglect of duty, or malfeasance or corruption in 
office; that the judge of the Superior Courts of this 
State shall have the power to fill vacancies by appoint- 
ment in the County Boards of Education for the coun- 
ties composing their respective judicial circuits, until 
the next session of the grand juries in and for said 
counties, when said vacancies shall be filled by said 
grand juries. 

See Part xiv, Note 1. 
See Part xiv, Note 2. 
See Part xvii, Note 5. 

Officers — sessions. 

Sec. 5. That the Board of Education shall elect one 
Acts of of their number President, who shall serve as such dur- 

1.887 D£L£r6 

72. ' ing the term for which he was chosen a member of the 



County Boaed of Education. 13 

Board. The County School Commissioner shall be ex 
officio Secretary of the Board. A majority of the 
Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business. It shall be the duty of said Secretary to be 
present at the meetings of the Board, and to record in a 
book, to be provided for the purpose, all their official 
proceedings, which shall be a public record open to the 
inspection of any person interested therein, and all 
such proceedings, when so recorded, shall be signed by 
the President and countersigned by the Secretary. 

Note. — It is important that the minutes of the meetings of the 
County Board of Education shall be kept in full. 

Sec. 6. That it shall be the duty of the County Board 
of Education to hold regular sessions on the first Tues- 
day of the month succeeding their election, and each ^^^^ ^^ 
three months thereafter, at the court-house of the coun- issr, page 

. . . 72. 

ty for the transaction of business pertammg to the pub- 
lic schools, with power to adjourn from time to time, 
and in the case of the absence of the President or Secre- 
tary, they may appoint one of their own number to ^^3"*^^^ 
serve temporarily. . ^f^' p^g® 

School Sub-Districts — employment of teachers — written con- 
tracts with teachers — teachers' reports — appointment 
and duties of trustees. 

Sec. 7. That the County Boards shall lay off their 
counties into sub-school districts, in each of which sub- 
school district they shall establish one common school isso, page 
each for the white and colored races where the popula- 
tion of the two races is sufficient, which schools shall be 
as near the center of the sub-school districts as can con- 
veniently be arranged, reference being had to any 
school-house already erected, and population of said 
sub-school district, and to the location of white and col- 
ored schools with regard to contiguity; provided, how- 
ever, that in such sub-school districts where more than 
one school is demanded, then they may establish one or 
more additional schools in such sub-school district; and 



124. 



14 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

provided also, that whenever it becomes proper to lay 
off new sub-school districts, or alter the boundaries of 
those already laid off, the said Board shall have full 
power to make such changes as the public necessities 
may require. 

See Part xii, Sec. 1. 
See Part xiv, Note 6. 
See Part xiv, Note 9. 
See Part xiv, Note 11. 
See Part xvii, Note 7. 

Sec. 8. The said County Boards are also empowered 
Acta of to employ teachers in the manner hereinafter pointed 

124.' ^^^^ out, to serve in the schools under their jurisdiction, and 
the contracts for said service shall be in writing, signed 
in duplicate by the teacher on his own behalf and by 
the County School Commissioner on behalf of the 
Board. 

Note. — A large number of the misunderstandings between commission- 
ers and teachers come from failure to make contracts in writing. 
See Part xiv, Note 8. 
See Part xiv, Note 10. 
See Part xiv, Note 12. 

It shall be the duty of the teachers to make and file 
1^7 pige with the County Commissioners at the expiration of 
■^^^ ' each term of school, a full and complete report of the 

whole number of scholars admitted to the school during 
said term, distinguishing between males and females 
and colored and white, together with the names thereof, 
and the entire and the average attendance, the branches 
taught, the number of pupils engaged in the study of 
each of the said branches, and such other statistics as 
he or she .may be required to report by the County Com- 
missioner, or by the State School Commissioner, or by 
the State School Commissioner, and until such report 
shall have been prepared, sworn to and filed by said 
teacher as aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for said 
County Commissioner to audit the account of said 
teacher for his or her services. 

See Part xv. Note 4. 



1889, page 
122. 



County Board of Education. 15 

Sec. 9. That the County Boards of Education, 
whenever, in their opinion, the good of the schools in ^^ts of 
their respective counties demand it, may, at their dis- 
cretion, appoint three intelligent, upright citizens of 
each sub-district of their respective counties to act as 
school trustees for their sub-districts, naming one of 
the appointees to serve for one year, and one for two, 
and one for three years ; and as vacancies occur by the 
expiration of the terms of incumbents, the Boards shall 
fill those vacancies with appointees whose term of serv- 
ice shall be three years ; and should vacancies occur by 
death, resignation, or otherwise, the Boards of Educa- 
tion shall fill these vacancies for the unexpired term; 
and whenever School Trustees are chosen as herein 
provided, the fact shall be recorded in the minutes of 
the County Boards, and the appointees shall receive 
certificates of their appointment from the County 
School Commissioner, and these certificates shall be 
their sufficient warrant for entering upon and perform- 
ing the duties of their office. That it shall be the duty 
of the School Trustees herein provided for to supervise 
the school operations of their sub-districts, to visit the 
schools, and to make such recommendations to the 
County Boards, in relation to the school interests of 
their sub-districts, as may seem to them best, and espe- 
cially in the matter of choosing teachers for their sub- 
districts. It shall be their right to recommend appli- 
cants, and it shall be the duty of the County Boards to 
choose as teachers the persons so recommended ; pro- 
vided, they shall be persons duly qualified and eligible 
according to the provisions of existing law ; and further- 
more, it shall be the duty of the School Trustees, in 
recommending persons as teachers, to recommend those 
persons who, in their opinion, are the choice of the com- 
munities to be served ; and it shall, furthermore, be the 
duty of the School Trustees to make a written report, 
once a year, to the County Boards in relation to the 
matters committed to their supervision, or oftener if 
required by the County Boards. of Education. 



16 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Note. — Duties of Trustees. ' 

"You are, therefore, hereby authorized and required to perform all the 
duties incumbent on you as a Trustee aforesaid, according to law and the 
trust reposed in you. This commission is to continue in force during 
active and efiS.cient service and for the term pointed out by the laws of the 
State, which say that this certificate shaU be your sufficient warrant for 
entering upon and performing the duties of your office. These duties are 
as follows: To visit your school; to inspect the school work in your 
district, giving special attention to oral and written examinations of 
pupils; to make general recommendations to the County Board of Educa- 
tion for the advancement of the school interests in your district; to aid, 
by recommendation of desirable applicants, the County Board of Educa- 
tion in choosing teachers for your schools; to see that the school house 
is in good repair and equipped for good work, and that the school grounds 
are properly improved and supplied with shade, fuel, water and other 
necessaries; to make a written report, once a year, to the County Board, 
in relation to the matters committed to your supervision, or oftener if 
required by the County Board of Education. 

"As you have opportunity, impress upon patrons and pupils the im- 
portance of regular attendance, of hearty home co-operation, and estab- 
lishing and using school libraries." — Extract from Trustee's Commission. 

School property — races taught separately — building of 
schoolhouses — defining and regulating public school 
term. 

Sec 10. That the County Board of Education shall 
have power to purchase, lease, or rent school sites; to 
1^7! page build, repair, or rent schoolhouses ; to purchase maps, 
globes and school furniture, and to make all other ar- 
rangements of this kind necessary to the efficient opera- 
tion of the schools under their care ; and the said Boards 
shall also be, and are hereby, invested with the title, 
care, and custody of all schoolhouses, sites, school libr- 
aries, apparatus, or other property belonging to sub- 
districts, as now defined, or as may hereafter be defined, 
in their several counties, with all power to control the 
same, in such manner as they think will best subserve 
the interests of common schools ; and when, in the opin- 
ion of the Board, any schoolhouse site has become un- 
necessary or inconvenient, they may sell and convey the 
same in the name of the County Board of Education, 
such conveyance to be executed by the President or Sec- 
retary of said Board according to the order of the 
Board. They shall have power to receive any gift, 



County Boaed of Eduoatioit. 17 

grant, donation, or devise made for the use of common 
schools within their respective counties ; and all convey- 
ances of real estate which may be made to said Board 
shall vest the property in said Board of Education and 
their successors in office. It shall also be the duty of 
said Board of Education to make arrangements for the 
instruction of the children of the white and colored 
races in separate schools. They shall, as far as practi- 
cable, provide the same facilities for both races in re- 
spect to attainments and abilities of teachers and length 
of term-time ; but the children of the white and colored 
races shall not be taught together in any common or 
public school of this State ; and in respect to the build- 
ing of the schoolhouses mentioned in this Section, the 
said Board of Education may provide for the same, 
either by labor on the part of the citizens of sub-dis- 
tricts to be served, or by a tax on their property, as may 
be hereinafter provided. 

Sec. 11. The several County Boards of Education of ^^^s of 
this State shall have full power and authority to define \ff' p^^* 
and regulate the length of the public school terms of 
their respective counties. 

Judicial tribunal — appeals. 

Sec. 12. That the County Board of Education shall ^cts ot 
constitute a tribunal for hearing and determining any ^f^' p^^® 
matter of local controversy in reference to the construc- 
tion or administration of the school law, with power to 
summon witnesses and take testimony if necessary; and 
when they have made a decision, said decision shall be 
binding upon the parties to the controversy; provided, 
that either of the parties shall have the right to appeal 
to the State School Commissioner, and said appeal shall 
be made through the County Commissioner in writing, 
and shall distinctly set forth the question in dispute, the 
decision of the County Board and the testimony, as 
agreed upon by the parties to the controversy, or if they 
fail to agree, upon the testimony as reported by the 
Commissioner. 



.^ 18 Compilation of Common School Laws.' 

Vaccination. 

Sec. 13. That the County Board of .Education in 
the counties of this State, and the Boards of Public Ed- 
ucation for the cities of this State be, and they are 
hereby, authorized and empowered to make such regula- 
Acts of tions as in their judgment shall seem requisite to insure 

p?ge%V. the vaccination of the pupils in their respective schools, 

and may require all scholars or pupils to be vaccinated 
as a prerequisite to admission to their respective 
schools. 

Additional Duties of Members of County Board 
of Education. 

County Board of Education authorized to administer oaths in certain 
instances. (See Part iv, Sec. 9) 

County Board of Education selects the months (within the proper 
calendar year) in which schools shall be operated. (See Part v, See. 4.) 



County School Commissioner. 19 

PART IV. 
COUNTY SCHOOL COMMISSIONER. 

I . Term — examination — election — bond — oath. 

Section 1. That the County Boards of Education 
shall, from the citizens of their counties, select a County Acts of 
Commissioner of Education, who shall be ex officio n. ' 
county superintendent of the common schools, and who 
shall hold his office for the term of four years. Before 
election the applicants for positions of County School 
Commissioner shall be examined by the President of 
the County Board of Education, or by some one appoint- 
ed by him or the Board for that purpose, upon written 
or printed questions, which shall be furnished to the 
Board by the State School Commissioner — said exami- 
nation to be upon the subjects taught in the common 
schools, upon the science and theory of common school 
teaching and government, and upon such other subjects 
as the State School Commissioner may deem proper. 
The said County Board of Education shall then elect 
such applicant County School Commissioner who has 
stood satisfactory examination, taking into considera- 
tion the moral character, business qualifications, and 
general availability of each applicant. The County 
School Commissioner so elected shall be required to 
give bond with good security payable to the County 
Board of Education, conditioned upon the faithful per- 
formance of his duty under the law, the amount and suf- 
ficiency of the security to be judged by the County 
Board of Education. 

See Part xvi, Note 8. 

See Part xvii, Note 6. 

Note, — A County School Commissioner may be postmaster, but can not 
hold any other office of profit or trust under the Government of the 
United States or of any of the several States, or of any foreign State. 

(See Code, Vol. I, Sec. 223.) 



20 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

Sec. 2. Before entering upon the discliarge of his 
official duties the said Commissioner shall take and sub- 
^^7 pige scribe to the same oath required of the other officers of 
^5- ' this State. 

Removal from office — successor. 

Sec. 3. The County School Commissioner may be re- 
moved from office before the expiration of his term by 
Acts of a majority vote of the Board of Education for ineffici- 

75. ' ^^^^ ency, incapacity, neglect of duty, or malfeasance or cor- 
ruption in office; provided, that any Commissioner so 
removed shall have the right of appeal from the action 
of the County Board to the State School Commissioner, 
and from the State School Commissioner to the State 
Board of Education. 

Sec. 4. Should there be a vacancy in the office of 

County School Commissioner, by resignation or other- 

^^7, page wise, au examination and election for the remainder of 

"^^^ the vacant term shall be held in the same manner, and 

by the same authorities, as for that of a full term. 

Duties — compensation — office — compensation in special 
cases. 



Acts of 



Sec. 5. That the County Commissioner shall consti- 
tute the medium of communication between the State 
1^7. page School Commlssiouer and the subordinate school offi- 
cers ; that he shall visit each school in his county at least 
once during the school term, or twice if practicable, and 
oftener if ordered by the Board, and without notice to 
the teachers, for the purpose of inspecting its manage- 
ment and the mode of instruction, and of giving such 
advice and making such suggestions as shall tend to 
elevate it in character and efficiency. He shall be the 
agent of the County Board in procuring such school 
furniture, apparatus, and educational requisites as they 
may order to be purchased, and shall see that none but 
the prescribed text-books are used by the pupils ; that it 
shall be his duty to audit all accounts of teachers and 



douNTY School Commissionek. 21 

others before an application is made to the County 
Board for an order for payment, and that the said 
County Commissioner shall procure a book, in which he 
shall keep a record of his official acts, which, together 
with all the books, papers and property appertaining to 
his office, he shall turn over, on his resignation, or at 
the expiration of his official term, to his successor. 

See Part xv, Note 2, 

It shall be the duty of every County School Commis- 
sioner in this State to place upon all teachers' license 
issued by them the seal of the Board of Education of Acts of 
the county for which they are commissioner. 92. ' 

Sec. 6. That the said County Commissioner shall re- 
ceive such compensation as the County Board may 
allow him, not to exceed three dollars per day, to be 
determined by the County Board of Education, for each iss?, page 
day actually employed in the discharge of his official 
duties, the same to be paid Out of the educational fund 
furnished to the county. His claim for services shall be 
presented in the form of arf account against the County 
Board of Education, and shall be verified by affidavit, to 
the effect that the said account is just and true; that 
the service therein named was honestly and faithfully 
rendered, and that the sum therein claimed is rightfully 
due, and remains unpaid. When said account shall 
have been duly audited and approved by the County 
Board, the said Comissioner shall retain his pay out 
of the revenue aforesaid; provided, that the County ' 
Board of Education shall determine the number of days 
in each year in which said County Commissioner may 
labor in the performance of the duties required of him. 

Sec. 7. County Boards of Education in counties hav- 
ing a population of more than sixty thousand inhabi- ^^^^ p^ge 
tants, shall be authorized and empowered to pay the '^^• 
County School Commissioners of such counties such 
salary in lieu of a per diem, as the said County Boards 
of Education shall fix, not to exceed the sum of eighteen 
hundred dollars per annum. 



1893, page 



Acts of 



22 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Sec. 8. That it shall be the duty of the county 
Acts of authorities of the different counties of this State to fur- 

nish the County School Commissioners thereof an office 
in the court-house thereof; provided, there is sufficient 
room in said court-house after furnishing the county 
officers of such county with offices as now provided by 
law. 

School officers authorized to administer oaths. 

Sec. 9. That County School Commissioners and 
members of the County Boards of Education shall be 
1887, page cmpowcrcd and authorized to administer such oaths as 
may be necessary in transacting school business, or in 
conducting investigations before the County Boards 
when sitting as judicial tribunals for determining con- 
troversies arising under school laws. 

Report to grand jury — duty of grand jury in matter of report. 

Sec, 10. That it shall be the duty of the County 
Acts of School Commissioner of each of the counties of this 

1887, page state to make a report of the school operations of the 
preceding year to the grand jury, at the spring term of 
the court, and to place his books before them for exami- 
nation; and in making up the general presentments, it 
shall be the duty of the jury to take proper notice of 
the matters thus brought to their attention. 

Note. — During the last two years an annual statement of the account 
of each County School Commissioner has been furnished to the County 
School Commissioner and to the grand jury through the Clerk of the 
Superior Court. 

Additional Duties of County School Commissioners. 

County School Commissioner is secretary of County Board of Educa- 
tion (Part iii, Sec. 5) ; issues certificates to School Trustees (Part iii, Sec, 
9) ; forwards appeals, in writing, from decision of County Board of Educa- 
tion to State School Commissioner (Part iii, Sec. 11) ; makes monthly 
statements to State School Commissioner (Part v, Sec. 3) ; operates insti- 
tutes (Part vii, Sec. 1) ; examines applicants for license to teach (Part 
viii. See. 1.) 

County School Commissioner — Election of is certified by secretary of 
meeting at which election is held (Part iii, See. 4.) 



Financial. 23 

PART V. 
FINANCIAL. 

School fund to be paid directly into State Treasury — Appor- 
tionment. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of ^^^^ ^j 
Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the eo?*' ^^^^ 
same, That beginning vith the taxes for the year 1895, 
all moneys belonging to the common school fund of the 
State, including poll taxes and specific taxes, shall be 
paid direct into the State Treasury in like manner as 
other State taxes are paid, and said common school fund 
shall be used for no other than common school purposes, 
as provided by law. 

Sec. 2. That from and after the first day of Janu- 
ary, 1899, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the 
Treasurer of the State shall place to the credit of each Amended 
county in the State, on his books, its proportionate part im, page 
of the common school fund in the treasury on the first 
day of each month, such proportionate part to be deter- 
mined by the State School Commissioner, the Comptrol- 
ler-General, and the Treasurer, and to be based upon 
the proportion which the school population in each 
county bears to the school population in the State as 
shown by the last school census; provided, however, 
that the salaries of the State School Commissioner and 
his clerk or clerks, and the expenses of his office, and 
any other items properly chargeable under the law to 
the general school fund, shall be deducted out of said 
fund before making the aforesaid apportionment to the 
counties. 



67. 



24 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Itemized Statements of claims against school fund — prompt 
disbursement. 

Sec. 3. That the County School Commissioner of 
A^rof each county shall, under the approval of the County 

1894, page Board of Education, transmit to the State School Com- 
missioner an itemized statement of the various sums 
due and unpaid by the County Board of Education on 
said several dates mentioned in Section 2, whether the 
same be for teachers' salaries, for pay of the County 
School Commissioner, or for any other item of expense 
properly chargeable under the law to the County Board 
of Education ; and when said itemized statements have 
been approved by the State School Commissioner and 
presented to the Governor, the Governor shall issue his 
warrants upon the Treasurer for all the funds standing 
to the credit of each of the several counties upon the 
books of the Treasurer, or for such part thereof as may 
be needed to liquidate the indebtedness of the County 
Board of Education of such county, as shown by each 
itemized statement aforesaid. And the State Treas- 
urer shall, upon the presentation of the warrants afore- 
said, draw his checks for the amounts of said warrants 
in favor of the County School Commissioners of the 
several counties, and the State School Commissioner 
shall immediately transmit said checks to the several 
County School Commissioners, who shall promptly dis- 
burse the money so received in payment of the sums set 
out in the itemized statement aforesaid; and if the 
money is not sufficient to pay said sums in full, then it 
shall be prorated among the various items; provided, 
that the expenses of administration for each month 
shall first be paid in full, and the County Boards of Edu- 
cation are hereby authorized to make their contracts in 
such manner that the amounts payable to teachers for 
services rendered shall become due and payable 
monthly. 

See Part xv, Note 3. ; 

See Part xvii, Note 3. , , \ ' ' ' 



Financial. 25 

School year begins January ist — operation of schools. 

Sec. 4. That beginning with January 1st, 1895, and j^^^^^^ 
continuing thereafter, the school year shall be coinci- ^ct^s of^ ^ 
dent with the calendar year, to-wit : from January 1st eg. ' 
to December 31st thereafter, and the State School Com- 
missioner, State Treasurer, and Comptroller-General 
shall, on or before the first Tuesday in December each 
year, beginning in 1894, or as soon thereafter as prac- 
ticable, make an estimate of the entire common school 
fund for the State for the next succeeding school year, 
and shall at once communicate in writing to the County 
School Commissioner of each county the amount of 
money that will be payable to his county; and on the 
first Tuesday in January in each year, or as soon there- 
after as practicable, each County Board of Education 
shall meet and make the necessary arrangements for 
placing the schools in operation for the next school 
year, and shall have full authority in their discretion 
either to fix salaries for the payment of teachers, or to 
pay them according to the enrollment or attendance; 
provided, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to 
affect the right of the respective counties of the State 
to select the time of operating their schools, which shall 
be left entirely to the County Boards of Education, nor 
shall it affect or change the time of operating their ^cts of 
schools under any special or local laws in any county in yf ^' ^"^^ 
this State ; provided further, it shall not affect the 
monthly payment of teachers as by this Act directed. 

See Part xiv, Note 13. 
See Part xvi, Note 5. 
Payments to local school systems. 

Sec. 5. That in those counties having local school 
laws where the schools are sustained by local taxation isqs! page 
for a period of five months or more, the State School ^' 
Commissioner shall, on the first day of each month, or 
as soon thereafter as practicable, notify the Governor Amended 
of the amount of funds standing to the credit of each of ^^l "^^^^ 
such counties on the books of the Treasurer on said ^^- ' 



26 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

dates, and thereupon the Governor shall issue his war- 
rants for said sums and the Treasurer shall draw his 
checks for said sums without requiring the itemized 
statements as provided in section 33; and the State 
School Commissioner shall immediately transmit said 
checks to the officer under the local school system autho- 
rized to receive its funds, and the State School Commis- 
sioner, shall, in like manner, pay over to the proper offi- 
cer under the school board of any town or city having a 
school system sustained by local taxation for a period of 
five months or more, and to which he is now authorized 
by la wto make direct apportionments, such proportion 
of the entire county fund as shown on the books of the 
Treasurer as the school population of the town or city 
bears to the population of the county, as shown by the 
last school census; provided, that all children of school 
age resident in said county, and attending the public 
schools of such town or city, shall be counted in the 
school population of such town or city and be entitled to 
have their share of such county fund paid over to the 
proper officer of the school board of such town or city. 

(See Eeport State Department of Education, 1902, page 192.) 
Estimate of school fund. 

Sec. 6. That the school fund for each calendar year 
Amended shall be a fixed and specified sum, and in order to carry 

1894, page Qut this provlslou the State School Commissioner, the 
Comptroller-General, and the Treasurer shall, on the 
first Tuesday of December of each year, beginning with 
1894, or as soon thereafter as practicable, make an esti- 
mate of what the school fund for the ensuing year shall 
be from the specific taxes, direct appropriations, and 
from any other sources of supply which now belong to 
the school fund or may hereafter belong to the school 
fund, and said fund, when so estimated, shall be avail- 
able and payable at the time specified in this Act ; pro- 
vided, that in the event that the said specific taxes shall 
fall short of said estimate, then the balance necessary 
to meet the provisions of said estimate is hereby autho- 
rized to be paid from any fund in the treasury not oth- 
erwise appropriated. 



62, 



79. 



Financial. 27 

Sec. 7. That when the State School Commissioner, 
the Comptroller-General and the Treasurer shall meet ^g^J °^^^^ 
on the first Tuesday in December, or as soon thereafter ^^■ 
as practicable, as provided in this Act, to make the esti- 
mate of the school fund provided for in Section 4 of this 
Act, they shall base said estimate upon the amount of 
school fund coming into the treasury for the year pre- 
ceding the year for which said estimate is made. 

Sources of school fund. 

Sec. 8. That for the support and maintenance of the 
common schools of this State, the poll tax, special tax j'gs?, pige 
on shows and exhibitions, all taxes on the sale of spirit- 
uous and malt liquors, dividends upon the stock of the 
State in the Bank of the State of Georgia, Bank of 
Augusta, Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, and 
such other means or moneys as now belong by law to the 
Common School Fund, one-half of the proceeds of the 
rental of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, or one-half 
of the annual net earnings of said railroad as ascer- 
tained by subtracting the annual cost of running and 
keeping up the road from the annual gross receipts un- 
der any change of policy which the State may adopt 
hereafter in reference to said railroad ; all endowments, 
devises, gifts and bequests made, or hereafter to be 
made, to the State Board of Education ; the proceeds of 
any commutation tax for military service; all taxes 
which may be assessed on such domestic animals as 
from their nature and habits are destructive to other 
property; all money received by the Agricultural De- 
partment of this State for the inspection of oils and fer- 
tilizers in excess of what may be necessary to defray 
the expenses of said Agricultural Department; money 
arising from the lease of oyster lands ; any educational 
fund now belonging to the State (except the endowment 
and debt due to the University of Georgia), and such 
other sums of money as the Legislature shall raise by 
taxation or otherwise from time to time for educational 
purposes, are hereby declared to be a common school 



28 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

fund; and when said common school fund shall be re- 
ceived and receipted for, from whatever source re- 
ceived, it shall be the duty of the officer authorized by 
law to receive such fund to keep the same separate and 
distinct from other funds, and said fund shall be used 
for educational purposes and none other, and shall not 
be invested in bonds of this State, or in other stock, ex- 
cept when investment is necessary to carry out the con- 
ditions of an endowment, devise, gift, or bequest, and 
when taxes are paid into the treasury of the State the 
Comptroller-General shall in no case receipt a Tax-Col- 
lector for the same until that part of the tax so paid in, 
which was raised for school purposes, is separated in 
amount from the gross amounts paid in. 

Relief of forfeiture of school fund — unused balances. 

Sec. 9. That whenever a County Board of Educa- 

Acts of . . 

1887, page tion, or Board of Education of any city, shall hereafter 



fail in any year to make arrangements to put schools in 
operation, said county or city, as the case may be, shall 
forfeit all right to participation in the school fund of 
" that year, unless the failure to arrange for schools was 
» from providential cause, or other good and sufficient 
reason, the sufficiency of the reason to be judged of by 
im page the State Board of Education. That in all cases where 
. any of the counties of this State have heretofore or may 
hereafter leave unused in the State Treasury any part 
of the public school fund to which they are entitled un- 
der the law, such fund shall be kept seperate and ap- 
plied to the use and benefit of the respective counties en- 
titled to the same. 

Failure to put schools in operation. 

Sec. 10. That any county or city, which has failed to 

Acts of put schools in operation in any past year, and has never 

1887, page rccclved its pro rata part of the State School Fund for 

that year, shall still be entitled to receive through the 

properly constituted authorities of the county or city 

that pro rata; provided ^ that the County School Com- 



Financial. 29 

missioner of such county shall receive no compensation 
from the school fund of said county for such year, ex- 
cept for services rendered in taking the enumeration of 
the school population. 

Note. — If any public officer of any county in this State shall buy up 
at a discount, or in any manner speculate in what are known as "county 
orders" or in "jury scrip," or any other order or scrip which is to be 
paid out of any public fund of this State or of any county in this State, 
he shall be punished as for a misdemeanor and shaE be removed from 
office. (Code, Vol. Ill, Sec. 277.) 

Additional Funds for Public Schools. 

Illegal granting of diplomas by medical colleges — Fine goes to State 
treasury for educational funds. (§486 Code, Vol. III.) 

Selling or offering for sale rejected illuminating oils or fluids — Fine 
goes to public school fund in which prosecution is made. (§607 Code, 
Vol. III.) 

Wrongful use of branded vessels for illuminating oUs or fluids — ^Fine 
goes to public school fund of county in which prosecution is made. 
(§608 Code, Vol. III.) 

Cruelty to animals — One-half of fine goes to public school fund of 
county in which prosecution is made. (§704 Code, Vol. III.) 

Gaming contracts — Money recovered after six months goes partly to 
public school fund of county in which suit is entered. (§3671 Code, 
Vol. II.) 

Property not returned but assessed — Overplus above amount due and 
costs goes to educational fund, subject to claim of true owner within 
four years. (§908 Code, Vol. I.) 

Proceeds of sale of estrays, subject to claim of owner within twelve 
months. (§1746 Code, Vol. I.) 

The net amount arising from the hire of convicts of this State, when 
the Grand Jury of the county directs this fund to be applied to the schools 
of the county. (Acts of 1903, page 65.) 



30 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

PART VI. 
LONG TERM SCHOOLS. 

Supplemental contracts — common school fund admits pupils. 

Acts of Section 1. That whenever the Board of Education 

1887, page ^^ ^^^ countj wltMn the State shall have entered into a 
contract with a teacher to teach a common school in any 
sub-district within its jurisdiction in accordance with 
this Act, it shall be lawful for said teacher to enter into 
a supplemental contract with the patrons of said school 
to teach a private elementary school in connection with 
said common school, and to embrace the period allowed 
by law for the said public term ; provided, that the con- 
tracting with teachers under the provisions of this Act 
shall be left to the discretion of the several County 
Boards of Education. 



Sec. 2. That upon said private supplemental con- 
Acte of^ ^ tract being examined and approved by the Board of 
82- Education of the county in which said school is located, 

it shall be the duty of said teacher to enter, as pupils in 
said private school, all scholars of common school age 
(regard being had to separate schools as now required 
by law) who may enter said school at any time within 
the term or scholastic year of said private school. It 
shall be the duty of said teacher to keep an accurate 
account of the number of such pupils and the number of 
days actually attended by each pupil, and when said 
private schools shall have closed, said teacher may make 
out an account against the County Board of Education 
for the full number of days each of said pupils may 
have attended said schools, not to exceed the whole num- 
ber of days now or hereafter to be prescribed by law; 
provided, that nothing in this Act shall be so construed 
as to prevent any common school scholar from entering 
said school as pupil, if the parent or guardian of said 



Long Teem Schools. 31 

pupil shall elect to enter him or her for the period of the 
public term, and upon the merits of the common school 
fund only. That no teacher shall be contracted with 
under the provisions of this Act until he or she has been 
duly licensed as a common school teacher; that every 
teacher contracted with under provisions of this Act 
shall be required to make the same reports and returns 
to the County School Commissioners as are now requir- 
ed of teachers of common schools in this State, and un- 
til said private schools have been taught according to 
contract, and said reports and returns are so made, it 
shall not be lawful for the Board of Education to pay 
him or her for such services as such teacher. 



32 



CoMftLAttOiT Of Common School Laws. 



PART VII. 



COUNTY INSTITUTES. 



Acts of 
1891, page 
121. 



Amended 
Acts of 
1892, page 

85. 



Amended 
Acts of 
1893, page 
61. 



Subjects — held by County School Commissioners — prepared 
by State School Commissioner — special examinations. 

Section 1. An Act authorizing the State School 
Commissioner to organize and establish in each county 
in Georgia a Teachers' County Institute for the assem- 
bling and instruction of the common school teachers of 
each county in the State, said institute to hold an annual 
session of one week's duration in each county of Geor- 
gia in the period of June, July and August, or in such 
other month as the State School Commissioner may 
deem best and expedient-, provided, hoivever, that the 
State School Commissioner may, in his discretion, com- 
bine the annual session of said institutes, or any num- 
ber of them, so that the same may be held in any county 
designated by him; to prepare a program of exercises, 
with a syllabus of each subject named in said program, 
for each day's session of said institute; to require Coun- 
ty School Commissioners to operate at their regular per 
diem, said institute, sessions under such general rules 
and regulations as he may deem best ; to require all per- 
sons, white and colored, teaching in Georgia, or having 
licenses entitling them to teach in the State, provided 
that those not teaching have not permanently retired 
from teaching; to attend all sessions of said institutes 
held in the county of their residence, and perform all 
duties required of them as members of said institutes, 
unless providentially prevented; to secure a prompt 
attendance of the teachers upon the exercises of said in- 
stitutes by causing the County School Commissioners 
and County Boards of Education to collect such fines 
from absentees as may be deemed just and reasonable 
by said Commissioners and Boards; provided, that no 



County Institutes. 33 

teacher shall be fined till he or she has stated the cause 
of his or her absence in writing, to said Commissioners 
and Boards, and they have duly considered the same; 
provided, further, that all money thus collected shall be 
used in purchasing teachers' libraries for the counties 
in which said fines may be collected; to provide separ- 
ate institutes for the white and the colored ; to pay from 
the educational fund of each county an amount not to 
exceed twenty-five dollars per annum for the purpose of 
securing the services of an expert in conducting the 
week's session of the institute of said county, which ex- 
pert shall be chosen by the County School Commission- 
er and County Board of Education, which expert shall 
assist in conducting the exercises of each annual week's 
session of said institute in the county where he is thus 
employed; to cause all sessions of said institutes to be 
held at county seats, or such other places as may be se- 
lected by the County School Commissioner, and allow 
all persons so desiring to attend the sessions of said 
institutes ; provided, that all visitors shall be subject to 
the rules and regulations of said institutes while attend- 
ing the exercises of the same; and to prescribe from 
time to time such other rules and regulations as he and 
the County School Commissioner may deem best for 
successfully operating said institute. 



34 



CoMPILATIOISr OF CoMMON SCHOOL LaWS. 



PAET VIII. 

EXAMINATION OF APPLICANTS FOR LICENSE 
TO TEACH. 



Amended 
Acts of 
1890-91, 
page 118. 



Acts of 
1901, page 
64. 



Grading of papers — ^licenses — graduates of colleges not ex- 
empt from examination. 

Section" 1. That the County Commissioiiers shall ex- 
amine all applicants for licenses to teach in their respec- 
tive counties, giving previous public notice of the day 
upon which the examinations are to take place, and said 
Commissioners shall be allowed to invite such persons 
as they may think proper to assist in these examina- 
tions. Applicants for license to teach in the common 
schools shall be examined upon orthography, reading, 
writing, English grammar, geography, arithmetic, and 
the science and practice of teaching in common schools. 
No license shall be granted any person to teach in the 
public schools, receiving money from the State, after 
the first Monday in January, 1903, who has not passed 
a satisfactory examination in physiology and hygiene 
(physiology, which shall include with other hygiene, the 
nature and effect of alcoholic drinks with other nar- 
cotics upon the human system). Said examinations 
shall be held throughout the State on a day or days to 
be fixed by the State School Commissioner, and on ques- 
tions prepared and sent out by him to the County School 
Commissioners. The State School Commissioner shall 
also prepare and supply the County School Commis- 
sioners with printed instructions as to the grading of 
applicants on and by a uniform grade, and shall fix the 
lowest standard for each class of licenses. 

No applicant for teacher's license shall be examined 
on any other day than the one designated as above de- 
scribed, except in cases where the County Board of Edu- 
cation shall order a special examination; no special ex- 
amination shall be ordered by said Board except for 



ExAMiiq^ATioisr of Applicants for License to Teach. 35 

good and sufificient reasons and to meet some special 
emergency. In sucli cases the questions shall be pre- 
pared by the County School Commissioner, or by some 
•competent person under his authority, and their con- 
tents shall not be made known to the applicant or appli- 
cants until the examination actually commences; said 
examination shall be conducted under the same rules 
and regulations as are provided by law for other exami- 
nations, but the licenses granted shall be valid only until 
the next examination ordered by the State School Com- 
missioner, and it shall not be lawful for the County 
School Commissioner of any county, other than that in 
which said special examination is held, to endorse a 
license granted thereunder. The County Board of 
Education shall have power, if they dee mbest, to em- 
ploy teachers at a salary. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the County School 
Commissioners after thorough examination of the ^^^^ ^^ 
papers submitted by applicants for licenses as teachers, i^^- p^ee 
upon the examination conducted as prescribed in the 
preceding Section, to grade the applicants according to 
the instructions furnished them by the State School 
Commissioner, submitting his report and recommenda- 
tions thereon in writing to the County Board of Educa- 
tion, who shall grant to the applicants licenses of the 
first, second or third grade, to be determined by the 
qualifications exhibited and the standard attained; 
provided, they shall attain at least the lowest grade- 
mark fixed by the State School Commissioner for each 
grade; and provided further, that each applicant sub- 
mits with his or her examination paper satisfactory evi- 
dence in writing of good moral character. A license of 
the first grade shall continue in force for three years, a 
license of the second grade for two years, and a license 
for the third grade for one year, which said licenses 
shall entitle teachers holding them to be employed for 
and during the period of their licenses in any of the 
common schools of the county where issued. Licenses, 
to be good in another county than the one in and for 



Acts of 

18! 

51, 



36 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

whicli they are issued, must be endorsed by the County 
School Commissioner of the county in which the appli- 
cant desires to teach. 

See Eeport of Department of Education, 1903, page 66, rule 10 of 
Eules for Examination. 

All students or graduates of any school, college or 
other institution of learning, shall be required to stand 
an examination as now prescribed by the general com- 
mon school laws of this State before the County School 
Commissioner of each county in this State in which they 
desire to teach and get a license from the County School 
Commissioner before being permitted to teach in the 
common or public schools of such county ; provided, that 
nothing herein contained shall be construed to invali- 
date any license to teach in the schools in this State now 
held by any person. 

And all laws and parts of laws authorizing and en- 
titling any student or graduate of any school, college or 
other institution of learning to teach in the common or 
public schools of this State on the certificate or diploma 
from any school, college or other institution of learn- 
ing, or the officers thereof be, and the same are, hereby 
repealed. 

See Part xvi, Note 2. 
Permanent License to teach. 

Sec. 3. After passing upon the examination papers 
as hereinbefore provided, if, in the opinion of the Coun- 
p^s^ ty School Commissioner, any one or more of them exhi- 
bit unusual merit, he shall forward such papers to the 
State School Commissioner, together with his certificate 
of the good, moral and professional character of the 
applicant, and if, in the opinion of the State School 
Commissioner, said paper exhibit a sufficient degree of 
merit, he shall issue a permanent teacher's license to 
the applicant, which license shall be good in any county 
of this State, and which shall only be revocable by the 
State School Commissioner for good and sufficient 
cause. 

Note. — Examination papers of applicants for permanent license to 
teach should be graded by the County School Commissioner and forwarded 
by express or registered mail. 



Examination of Applicants for License to Teach. 37 

Revoking of Licenses — appeal — forgery in License a felony. 

Sec. 4. That tlie Comity Commissioiier shall have ^cts of 
power, and it shall be his duty, to revoke licenses grant- J^f • ^^^ 
ed by him, or his predecessors, for incompetency, im- 
morality, cruelty to pupils, or neglect of his duties, and 
the revocation of the license of any teacher shall termi- 
nate the connection of said teacher with any school 
which he may have been employed to teach; but any 
teacher so dismissed shall have the right to appeal to 
the County Board of Education, whose* decision shall be 
final. 

See Part xiv., Note 7. 

Whoever, with intent to defraud the State or any ^^^^ ^^ 
county, town or city, or any person, shall falsely and l^' p^se 
fraudulently make, forge, alter or counterfeit, or cause 
to procure to be falsely and fraudulently made, forged, 
altered or counterfeited, or willingly aid or assist in 
falsely and fraudulently making, forging, altering or 
counterfeiting any certificate or license issued by any 
County School Commissioner of this State, or the execu- 
tive officer of any local school board to a teacher, shall 
be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction there- 
for, shall be punished as prescribed by Section 233 of 
the Penal Code. 



38 COMPLLATION OF CoMMOX ScHOOL LaWS. 

PAET IX. 
SCHOOL CENSUS. 

Time for taking census. 

Section" 1. That it shall be the duty of the County 
and City Boards of Education of this State to cause an 

Acts of • ■ 

1887. page enumeration of the children between six and eighteen 
years of age to be made under instructions from the 
State School Commissioner, in the year 1888, and every 
ten years thereafter, as hereinafter prescribed. In the 
year 1893, and every ten years thereafter, it shall be the 
duty of the State Board of Education, in the early part 
of the year, to have an estimate made from the last cen- 
sus taken by the authorities of the United States, of the 
number of children of school age in each county of the 
State, and in each town and city under a local school 
law, and if, from the evidence thus obtained, or from 
other evidence of any kind, the said Board shall become 
satisfied that a new enumeration of the school popula- 
tion ought to be taken for any county or counties, or for 
any town or city, or the entire State, it shall be their 
duty to order the said enumeration to be taken accord- 
ingly. 

Enumerators: Duties, compensation, oath — County School 
Commissioner as enumerator. 

Sec. 2. The different County or City Boards shall 
employ one or more competent, reliable persons to take 
^ ot the enumeration above mentioned, in their respective 

SL ' jurisdictions, and the persons so employed shall go from 

house to house, making a thorough canvass of the terri- 
tory assigned them, taking the number of children be- 
tween the ages of six and eighteen years, and distin- 
guishing between the sexes and races. The persons 
thus employed shall be known as enumerators of the 



School Census. 39 

school census, and shall take and report any additional 
statistics required by the State School Commissioner. 
They shall receive as compensation a per diem not to 
exceed two dollars in the counties, or two dollars in the 
cities, or in the city and county where the same are un- 
der local laws, to be paid out of the school fund of the 
jurisdiction in which the work is done. They shall 
moreover, be required to make oath that the work done 
by them has been carefully and faithfully done accord- 
ing to the true intent and meaning of this Act, the form 
of oath to be prescribed by the State School Commis- 
sioner; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be 
construed to prevent the County Boards from employ- 
ing the County School Commissioners to do the work 
contemplated in this section. 

New enumeration. 

Sec. 3. The State Board of Education is hereby em- 
powered to order at once a new enumeration when they ^^^ ^^ 
are in doubt as to the accuracy of the return made from p*"' p^^e 
any county or city; but the enumerators first making 
their return shall receive no compensation in case it is 
found their enumeration was not correct. In case their 
enumeration is verified by the second enumeration, then 
both shall be paid, but the amount paid them shall be 
deducted from the school fund appropriated to this spe- 
cial territory. 

Fixing compensation of enumerators. 

Sec. 4. The respective County or City Boards are 
hereby empowered to fix, within the limits prescribed Acts of 
above, the per diem compensation of the enumerators 82. ' ^^ 
of the school census employed by them. 

Note. — Clauses and special la-ws authorizing annual school census are 
in conflict with this general law. 



33, 



4'0 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

PART X. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 

County line schools. 

Section 1. That admission to all common schools of 
im. page this state be gratuitous to all children between the ages 
of six and eighteen years residing in the sub-districts in 
which the schools are located; provided, that colored 
and white children shall not attend the same school ; and 
no teacher receiving or teaching white and colored 
pupils in the same school shall be allowed any compen- 
sation at all Qut of the common school fund. In special 
cases, to meet the obvious demands of convenience, chil- 
dren residing in one sub-district may, by express per- 
mission of the County Board, attend the common school 
of another sub-district; and when a common school is 
located near a county line, children from an adjoining 
county shall be permitted to attend the school ; provided, 
such children reside nearer such school or said school is 
more accessible to the residences of such children than 
any public school in the county of their residence. And 
in such cases, the teacher shall make out two accounts 
for his services, one against each County Board, in 
amount proportioned to the number of children in the 
school from the respective counties. 

Note. — A small incidental fee is a reasonable charge against aU pupils 
who are able to pay the same. This fee should be applied only to current 
incidental expenses; keeping the house in order, providing crayon, fuel, 
etc. This is in line with the custom of many schools in which the girls 
keep the schoolroom in order and the boys bring water, fuel, etc. In a 
few schools of this State whose patrons are indifferent the teachers have 
had to meet the current incidental expenses. Every good school building 
should be under the constant care of a janitor, and patrons should make 
due provisions for the equipment and care of the school buUding. 

Note 2. — Teachers of county line schools should report to each county 
the number of pupils and the amount of salary received from the other 
county. County Boards through the County School Commissioner of each 
county should pay salaries of teachers according to contract direct to 
teachers of county line schools. 



MlSCELLASTEOtrS. 41 

Manual labor schools. 

Sec. 2. That the County Board of Education shall 
have power to organize in each county one or more man- ^^^ ^^^^ 
ual labor schools on such a plan as shall be self-sustain- '^^• 
ing; provided, that the plan be first submitted to and 
approved by the State Board of Education. 

Evening schools. 

Sec. 3. That the Board of Education of any county 
shall have the power to establish, at such places as they tm, page 
may deem proper, within the limits of their jurisdiction, '^^' 
a suitable number of evening schools for the instruction 
of such youth over twelve years of age as are prevented 
by their daily avocations from attending day schools, 
subject to such regulations, not inconsistent with the 
provisions of this Act and the instructions issued under 
it by the State School Commissioner, as said Board, 
from time to time, may adopt for the government 
thereof. 
Exemption o£ school property from taxation. 

Sec. 4. That each and every lot or parcel of land 
which has been or may be hereafter obtained by pur- f^^ ^'^g^ 
chase, or in any otlier way, by any County Board of ^^• 
Education for the use of common schools, together with, 
any school building that may have been or shall be 
erected thereon, and all school furniture shall be exempt 
from all taxes. State and county, and from levy and sale 
under any execution or other writ or order in the nature 
of an execution ; provided, that the lot of land so exemp- 
ted shall not exceed four acres, and if there be any ex- 
cess over that number of acres, then that portion not to 
exceed four acres, most convenient for school purposes, 
shall be exempt as aforesaid, the exempted portion to 
be set off by order of the County Board. 

Scholastic month defined. 

Sec. 5. That from and after the passage of this Act, 
twenty school days shall constitute and be deemed and ^^gj "^^^^ 
treated as a scholastic month in all the public schools of ^^■ 
this State. 



42 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Local school systems. 

A^te "*! e ^^^' ^' ^^^^ nothing in this Act shall be so con- 

es. ' strued as to prevent any city with a population greater 

than two thousand inhabitants, or any county or town 
under authority of the General Assembly of this State, 
from organizing a public school system independent of 
this system, or to prevent the said independent organi- 
zation from drawing its pro rata share of all education- 
al funds raised by the State ; provided), the chief execu- 
tive officer of such independent organization shall make 
the same regular reports to the State School Commis- 
sioner as are required from the County Commissioners 
by this Act; provided further, that nothing contained 
in this Act shall be construed to annul or repeal any 
local law now of force in any city or county in this State 
providing for the organization and maintenance of the 
common or public schools in such city or county. 

Arbor Day. 

Acts of S^c!. 7. The first Friday in December in each year 

Jage^m shall be set apart and consecrated as a day for tree- 

planting, and shall be Imown throughout the State as 
''Arbor Day," that it shall be the duty of the State 
School Commisioner to take the matter of the observ- 
ance of ''Arbor Day," by the public, under his general 
supervision, and through the County School Commis- 
sioners to cause the public schools of the State to ob- 
serve "Arbor Day," as the superintendents and teach- 
ers may think best, in order to show the pupils the value 
and beauty of forestry by practical tree-planting on 
school, church, and other public lots, lawns, as well as on 
public highways. 

Physiology and Hygiene to be taught in public schools. 

Sec. 8. The nature of alcoholic drinks and narcotics, 
1^! page and special instruction as to their effects upon the hu- 
man system in connection with the several divisions of 
the subject of physiology and hygiene, shall be included 



Miscellaneous, 43 

in the branches of study taught in common or public 
schools in the State of Georgia, and shall be studied and 
taught as thoroughly and in the same manner as other 
like required branches are in said schools. 

Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of county and city super- 
intendents of schools receiving aid from the State to 
report to the State School Commissioner any failures or 
neglect on the part of the Boards of Education to make 
provision for instruction of all pupils in any or all the 
schools under their jurisdiction, in physiology and 
hygiene (physiology, which shall include with other 
hygiene the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and 
other narcotics upon the human system), and the Board 
of Education of each county of this State shall adopt 
proper rules to carry the provisions of this law into 
effect. 

Agriculture and Civil Government to be taught in the com- 
mon schools. 

Sec. 11. The elementary principles of agriculture 
and the elements of civil government be included in the 
branches of study taught in the common or public 
schools in the State of Georgia, and shall be studied and 
taught as thoroughly and in the same manner as other 
like required branches are studied and taught in said 
schools. 

Sec. 12. It shall be the duty of the county commis- 
sioners of all schools receiving aid from the State to tm, plge 
report to the State School Commissioner any failures ^*' 
or neglect on the part of their respective boards of edu- 
cation to make provisions for instruction of all pupils 
in any and all of the schools under their jurisdiction in 
said branches, and the board of education of each 
county of this State shall adopt proper rules to carry 
the provisions of this law into effect. 

See Part xvi, Note 7. 
Law for Binding out Children. 

Sec. 13. That all minors may, by whichever parent 



1865, page 



44 Compilation^ op Common School Laws. 

iml page ^^s the legal control of them, be bound out as appren- 

^- tices to any respectable person, until they attain the age 

of twenty-one, or for a shorter period. 

Sec. 14. It shall be the duty of the Judge of the 

Acts of ^^ County Court, or Ordinary, to bind out, in like manner, 
all minors whose parents are dead, or whose parents re- 
side out of the county, the profits of whose estate are 
insufficient for their support and maintenance; also, 
all minors whose parents, from age, infirmity or pov- 
erty, are unable to support them; provided, that before 
the Judge of the County Court or Ordinary shall bind 
out such minor, such Judge or Ordinary shall give fif- 
teen days' notice, a plainly written citation, calling 
upon all persons interested, to show cause why such 
minor should not be bound out, and specifying the time 
and place when he will pass upon the same, one of which 
citations shall be posted on the courthouse door of the 
county, and the other at some public place in the mili- 
tia district in which said minor may then be, and shall 
also cause copies of said citation to be served upon the 
next of kin of said minor, if any be found In said county, 

1876, page at least ten days before the hearing, and if no next of 
kin are found in the county, then the citation to be pub- 
lished once a week for four weeks in the paper in which 
the legal advertisements are published; and in all such 
cases the Judge or Ordinary shall appoint for such 
minor a guardian ad litem, before binding him or her 
out, which guardian ad litem shall not be the applicant, 
or any relative of his. After a full hearing, such Judge 
or Ordinary may bind out such minor or minors, if no 
blood kin of said minor or minors appear, who are will- 
ing and competent to undertake his support and main- 
tenance, and if no other good cause to the contrary be 
shown by such guardian ad litem, or any other person. 

Note 1. — The natural guardian and the Ordinary of the county shall 
insert in the contract of binding to secure the child so bound such treat- 
ment and education as shall be suitable and useful to its situation and cir- 
cumstances in life. (Code of Ga. Sec. 2375.) 

Note 2. — Many homeless orphans are being cared for by the Orphans ' 
Homes that have been established in this State. Through adoption, these 
homes place many of the orphans with good families. For list of Orphan- 
ages see Report of Department of Education, 1904, p. 344. 



Acts of 



Miscellaneous. 45 

Law for Protection of Birds. 

Certain Birds Protected. 

Section 1. That from and after January 1, 1904, it 
shall be unlawful for any person in the State of Georgia 
to kill, catch or have in his possession, living or dead, i904. page 
any wild bird other than a game bird in raw state, or to 
purchase, offer or expose for sale, transport or ship, 
within or without the State, other than stuffed, or 
branched or mounted, any such wild bird after it has 
been killed or caught, except as permitted by this Act. 
No part of the plumage, skin or body of any bird pro- 
tected by this Section shall be sold or had in possession 
for sale. For the purposes of this act the following 
only shall be considered game birds: Swans, geese, 
brant, river and sea ducks, rails, coots, mudhens and 
gallimules, shore birds, plovers, surf birds, snipej wood- 
cock, sandpipers, tattlers and curlews, wild turkeys, 
grouse, prairie chickens, pheasants, doves, partridges 
and quail. 

Nests and Eggs. 

Sec. 2. It shall be unlawful for any person within 
the State of Georgia to take or needlessly destroy the 
nest or eggs of any wild non-game bird, or have such 
nest or eggs in his or her possession, except as per- 
mitted by this Act. 

Certificates to collect for scientific purposes. 

Sec. 3. Sections 1, 2 and 8 of this Act shall not apply 
to any person holding a certificate giving the right to 
take birds, their nests or eggs, for scientific purposes, 
as provided for in Section 4 of this Act. 

Sec. 4. Certificates may be granted by the Commis- 
sioner of Agriculture to any properly accredited person 
of the age of fifteen years or upward, permitting the 
holder thereof to collect birds, their nests or eggs, for 
strictly scientific purposes only. In order to obtain 



46 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

such certificate the applicant for the same must present 
to the person or persons having the authority to grant 
said certificate written testimonials from two well- 
known scientific men, certifying to the good character 
and fitness of said applicant to be entrusted with such 
privilege ; must pay the said person or officers one dol- 
lar to defray the necessary expenses attending the 
granting of such certificate ; and must file with said per- 
sons or officers a properly executed bond in the sum of 
two hundred dollars, signed by two responsible citizens 
of the State, or an incorporated surety company as 
sureties. On proof that the holder of such certificate 
has killed any bird, or taken the nest or eggs of any 
bird, for other than scientific purposes, his bond shall 
be forfeited to the State and the certificate become void, 
and he shall be further subject for each offense to the 
penalties provided therefor in Section 9 of this Act. 

Sec. 5. The certificates authorized by this Act shall 
be in force one year only from the date of issue and 
shall not be transferable. 

Sec. 6. The English or European house sparrow, 
great horned owl, sharp- shinned hawk, commonly known 
as the little blue darter or blue tail, cooper's hawk, 
known as the big blue darter or blue tail, crow, lark, 
crow-blackbird, jackdaw and rice bird are not included 
among the birds protected by this Act. 
Domestic pets. 

Sec. 7. Nothing in this Act shall prevent the keep- 
ing of any wild non-game bird in a cage as a domestic 
pet; provided, that such bird shall not- be sold or ex- 
changed, or offered for sale or exchange, or transported 
out of the State. 

Wardens — Charges to Grand Juries — penalties. 

Sec. 8. The judges of the superior courts of the sev- 
eral counties of this State are authorized to appoint one 



Miscellaneous. 47 

or more wardens whose- duties it shall be to enforce the 
provisions of this Act, and who shall have the same 
power to make arrests for violations of this Act as the 
sheriffs of this State ; and that the compensation of such 
wardens shall be one-half of the fines and forfeitures 
imposed by the court and paid by the violators, and the 
other half to be paid to the school fund of the county in 
which the arrests are made. The Judges of the Supe- 
rior Court shall give the provisions of this Act in spe- 
cial charge to the grand jury at each regular term of the 
court. 

Sec. 9. Any person violating any of the provisions of 
this Act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon 
conviction, be fined five dollars for each bird, living or 
dead, or part of bird, nest or set of eggs or part thereof, 
possessed in violation of this Act, or shall be imprisoned 
not less than five nor more than thirty days for each 
offense; or shall be subject to both such fine and im- 
prisonment at the discretion of the court. 

Schools in new counties — Special Provisions. 

Sec. 15. The grand jury in each new county shall 
at the first session elect a county board of education, ^^^^ ^^^^^ 
as now provided by law, and that said county board of ^' 
education shall immediately organize, and the said 
county board of education is hereby vested with all the 
powers and rights that are given by law to the county 
board of education in existing counties: that until the 
organization of the county board of education, the 
school in such a new county shall remain under the con- 
trol of the boards of education of the counties from 
which the territory to form said new county was taken, 
but immediately upon the organization of the county 
board of education in said new county such control shall 
cease and pass to the board of education of the new 
county, which shall be entitled to manage and control 
the schools within the new county as now p^^ovided by 
law. 



48 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Provided, That in every instance wlien a new county 
has been or hereafter may be created out of the terri- 
tory of any one or more of the counties organized prior 
to December 1, 1903, and such old counties shall kt the 
time of the approval of this Act have on hand either in 
the Treasury of this State or elsewhere any funds sub- 
ject to the provisions of the Act hereby amended, then 
such funds shall be equitably apportioned between such 
new county and the old counties whose territory went 
to the formation of the new county, the basis of appor- 
tionment between the new county and the old counties 
affected to be the school population of said counties as 
the same may appear from the record in the office of the 
State School Commissioner, or as may be agreed upon 
by the authorities of counties affected: 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That it is hereby made the duty of said State 
School Commissioner to apportion said funds and to 
cause the same to be paid over upon lawful demand to 
the respective counties entitled thereto. 

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this 
Act be, and the same are, hereby repealed. 

Isolation and Quarantine in infectious diseases (Extracts 
from Rules and Regulations of State Board of Health.) 

Section 18. No parent or householder shall permit infected persons 
(or persons exposed to infection), clothing, bedding, furniture, school- 
books, library-books, or other articles likely to convey infection, to be re- 
moved from the house until properly disinfected, under the supervision of 
the local board of health or its proper oflS.cer, or where no board exists, by 
the attending physician, in the manner recommended by the State Board 
of Health. 

Section 19. The isolation of patients and duration of quarantine in 
infectious diseases shaU be as follows: 

DiPTHERiA OR Membranous Croup: For the patient: Isolation for 
twenty-one (21) days from persons and domestic animals, and disinfecton 
of premises. For persons associated with or in the house with the pa- 
tient: Adults: Quarantine until after death or recovery of the patient 



tJNiFOKM Text-Book Law. 49 

and disinfection of premises. Children: Quarantine for seven (7) days 
after disinfection of premises. Domestic pets, particularly cats, are fre- 
quent carriers of this infection. That the use of antitoxine lessens the 
mortality, but does not attentuate the virus, so that the same length of 
quarantine should be enforced whether antitoxines are or are not used. 

Scarlet Fever (Scarletina, Scarlet Eash, Boseola) : Isolation of pa- 
tient and quarantine of children associated with, or in the house with the 
patient, for ten (10) days after complete desquamation er scaling of pa- 
tient and disinfection of premises. 

Smallpox: For the patient: Isolation until after all crusts or scales 
have fallen off, and the disinfection of patient's body and the premises. 
For exposed persons: Quarantine for sixteen (16) days from date of last 
exposure. 

Cholera: For the patient: Isolation until after complete recovery 
and disinfection of the premises. For exposed persons: Quarantine for 
five (5) days from date of last exposure. 

Yellow Fever: Isolation in screened room (protected fire-place) 
until after complete recovery and disinfection of premises. 

Typhus Fever: For the patient: Isolation until after complete re- 
covery and disinfection of the premises. For exposed persons: Quaran- 
tine for twenty-one (21) days from date of last exposure. 

Days to be observed by appropriate exercises. 

January 1 — New Year 's Day. 

January 19 — ^Lee 's Birthday. 

February 12 — Georgia Day. 

February 22 — Washington 's Birthday. 

April 26 — Memorial Day. 

June 3 — Davis' Birthday. 

July 4 — Independence Day. 

September, First Monday — Labor Day. 

November, Fourth Thursday — Thanksgiving Day. 

December, First Friday — Arbor Day. 

December 25 — Christmas Day. 



63. 



50 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

PART XI. 
UNIFORM TEXT-BOOK LAW. 

School-book Commission. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
imi. pige the State of Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by au- 
thority of the same, That the State Board of Education, 
consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State, Comp- 
troller-General, Attorney-General and State School 
Commissioner, be, and are, hereby made the School-book 
Commission of the State of Georgia. The members of 
the said School-book Commission shall serve without 
compensation ; the Governor shall be president, and the 
State School Commissioner shall be the executive officer 
of said School-book Commission. Before transacting 
any business relating to the duties of this Commission, 
they shall each take an oath before some person author- 
ized to administer same, to faithfully discharge all the 
duties imposed upon them as members of the said 
School-book Commission, and that they have no inter- 
est, direct or indirect, in any contract that may be made 
under this Act, and will receive no personal benefit 
therefrom. 

Uniform series of text-books. 

Sec. 2. Be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid. 
That from and after the first day of January, 1904, or 
such date thereafter, not more than sixty days, as shall 
be deemed necessary and practicable by the School-book 
Commission to allow to the contractors to furnish to the 
schools of the State the books included in the contracts 
made by said commission with such contractors, a uni- 
form series of text-books, shall be used in all the com- 
mon schools of this State, to be adopted in the manner 
and for the time hereinafter provided, which uniform 



Unifobm Text-Book Law. 51 

series of books shall be in use in all the common schools 
of this State, and shall include the following elementary 
branches of an English education only, to-wit : Orthog- 
raphy, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, English 
language lessons, English grammar, history of Georgia 
containing the Constitution of the State of Georgia, his- 
tory of the United States containing the Constitution of 
the United States, physiology and hygiene, the element- 
ary principles of agriculture and civil government, and 
such other branches of study in addition to the above- 
mentioned as may be from time to time provided for by 
statute, and not conflicting with the Constitution of this 
State ; provided, that none of said text-books so adopted 
shall contain anything of a partisan or sectarian char- 
acter; and provided, that no county, city or town that 
levies a local tax for the purpose of maintaining a sys- 
tem of graded schools, which local tax, together with the 
State fund, is sufficient to maintain said system of 
graded schools, for as long a period as eight months in 
each year, shall be included in the provisions of this 
Act ; but if the duly constituted authorities in charge of 
any local system in this State should desire to use any 
of the books selected by said School-book Commission, 
the said local system shall have the privilege of buying 
said books at the same price and on the same terms at 
which they are furnished to the common schools of the 
State. 

Sub-commission. 

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That it shall be the duty of the said School-book 
Commission to elect a sub-commission of five, to be se- 
lected from among the teachers of the State who are 
actively engaged in school work, either as normal school 
teachers, common school teachers, graded school teach- 
ers, county school commissioners or city superintend- 
ents; provided, that no more than one of the members 
of said sub-commission shall be taken from one congres- 
sional district. Sample copies of all books sent to the 



52 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

said School-book Commission as specimen copies upon 
which bids are to be based shall be referred to the sub- 
commission for examination, and said sub-commission 
shall examine and report upon the merits and demerits 
of the books irrespective of prices, taking into consid- 
eration the subject-matter of the books, their printing, 
their material and mechanical qualities and their gen- 
eral suitability and desirability for the purpose for 
which they are desired and intended. It shall further 
be the duty of each member of said sub-commission to 
make an individual report to the said School-book Com- 
mission at such time as said Commission shall direct, 
arranging each book in its class, and reporting them in 
the order of their merit, pointing out the merits and de- 
merits of each book, and indicating what books he 
recommends for adoption first, what book is his second 
choice, and what his third choice, and so on, pursuing 
this plan with the books submitted upon each branch of 
study ; and if any member of said sub-commission shall 
consider different books upon the same subject or of the 
same class or division of approximately equal merit, 
all things being considered, he shall so report, and if he 
thinks that any of the books offered are of such charac- 
ter as to make them inferior and not worthy of adop- 
tion, he shall, in his report, designate such books, and 
in said report each member of said sub-commission shall 
make such recommendation and suggestions to the said 
School-book Commission as he shall deem advisable and 
proper to make. Said individual reports of the differ- 
ent members of the sub-commission shall be kept secret 
and sealed and shall be delivered to the Secretary of 
the State, and said report shall not be opened until the 
said School-book Commission shall meet in executive 
session to open and consider the bids or proposals of 
publishers and others desiring to have books adopted 
by said commission. Each member of said sub-com- 
mission, before entering upon the duties of said sub- 
commission, shall take and prescribe an oath to act hon- 
estly, conscientiously and faithfully, and that he is not 



Uniform Text-Book Law. 53 

directly or indirectly in any manner interested in any 
of the proposed contracts, nor in any book or publishing 
concern of any kind or character, and that he will exam- 
ine all books submitted carefully and faithfully, and 
make true reports thereon, as herein directed and pre- 
scribed ; said oath shall be filed in the office of the Secre- 
tary of State. Said School-book Commission shall 
hear and consider said reports of the members of the 
sub-commission in its selection and adoption of the uni- 
form series of text-books, and shall also themselves con- 
sider the merits of the books, taking into consideration 
the subject-matter, the printing, binding and material 
and mechanical qualities and their general suitability 
and desirability for the purposes intended, and the 
price of said books ; and they shall give due considera- 
tion and great weight to the reports and recommenda- 
tions of the sub-commission; provided, that no text- 
book, the subject-matter of which is of inferior quality, 
shall be adopted by the said School-book Commission. 
Said School-book Commission shall select and adopt 
such books as will, in their best judgment, accomplish 
the ends desired. When the said School-book Commis- 
sion shall have finished with the reports of said sub- 
commission, the individual reports of the members of 
said sub-commission shall be filed and preserved in the 
office of the State School Commissioner, and shall be 
open at all times for public inspection. 

Bids. 

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted. That the said School- 
book Commission shall meet in the office of the State 
Commissioner not later than September 1, 1903, and 
advertise in such manner and form as they may deem 
best, that, at a time to be fixed by said commission to be 
named in the advertisement, and not to be later than 
November 1, 1903, said School-book Commission will 
receive at the office of the State School Commissioner, 
in the city of Atlanta, sealed bids or proposals from the 
. publishers of school-books for furnishing books to the 



54 Compilation OF Common School Laws. 

public common schools of the State of Georgia through 
agencies established by said publishers in the several 
counties and places in counties in the State, as may be 
provided for in such regulations as said School-book 
Commission may adopt and prescribe. The bids or 
proposals shall be for furnishing the books specified for 
a period of five years, and no longer. Said bids or pro- 
posals shall state specifically and clearly the retail price 
at which each book will be furnished, and also the ex- 
change price for the introduction of such books. Each 
bid or proposal shall be accompanied by specimen cop- 
ies of each and all books to be furnished in said bid ; and 
it shall be required that each bidder shall deposit with 
the Treasurer of the State of Georgia a sum of money 
such as the said School-book Commission may require, 
of not less than five hundred dollars, and not more than 
twenty-five hundred dollars, according to the number 
of books each bidder may propose to supply, and such 
deposit shall be forfeited absolutely to the State if the 
bidder shall fail or refuse to make and execute such con- 
tract or bond as is hereinafter required within such 
time as the said School-book Commission may require, 
wihch time shall not be later than January 1, 1904, and 
shall also be stated in said advertisement. All bids shall 
be sealed and deposited with the Secretary of State, to 
be by him delivered to the said School-book Commission 
when they are in executive session for the purpose of 
considering the same, when they shall be opened in the 
presence of said School-book Commission; provided, 
that the School-book Commission shall have authority, 
upon the acceptance of any bid and the execution of any 
contract to furnish school-books under the provisions 
of this Act, to allow such time, after January 1, 1904, as 
may be deemed by said Commission reasonable and nec- 
essary (not more than sixty days), to the contractor 
making such bid or contract, within which to furnish to 
all the schools of this State coming under the provisions 
of this Act, with all the books contracted to be fur- 
nished, • 



Unifobm Text-Book Law. 55 

Adoption — contracts — forfeitures and recoveries on Bonds. 

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That it shall be the duty of said School-book Com- 
mission to meet at the time and place noted in said ad- 
vertisement and take out the specimen copies submitted 
and upon which bids are based, and refer and submit 
them to the sub-commission as provided for and di- 
rected in Section 3 of this Act, with instruction to the 
said sub-commission to report to them at a specified 
time with their reports, classifications and reconomenda- 
tions as provided in Section 3. When the said reports 
are submitted it shall be the duty of the said School- 
book Commission to open and examine all sealed pro- 
posals submitted and received in pursuance of the notice 
provided in Section 4 of this Act. It shall then be the 
duty of said School-book Commission to examine and 
consider carefully all such bids or proposals, together 
with the reports and recommendations of the members 
of the sub-commission, and determine, in the manner 
provided in Section 3 of this Act, what book or books 
upon the branches herein above mentioned, or that here- 
after may be added by said School-book Commission, or 
may be hereinafter provided for in this Act, shall be 
selected and adopted, taking into consideration the size, 
quality as to subject-matter, material, printing, binding, 
and the mechanical execution and price and the general 
suitability for the purposes desired and intended. And 
after such adoption shall have been made, the said 
School-book Commission shall, by registered mail, no- 
tify the publishers or proposers to whom contracts have 
been awarded, and it shall then be the duty of the Attor- 
ney-General of the State to prepare the said contract or 
contracts in accordance with the terms and provisions 
of this Act, and the said contract shall be executed by 
the Governor and attested by the Secretary of State 
with the seal of the State attached upon the part of the 
State of Georgia, and the said contract shall be executed 
in triplicate, one copy to be kept by the contractor, one 
copy by the School-book Commission, and copied in full 



56 CoMPiLATioK OP Common School Laws. 

upon the minute-book of the commission, and one copy 
to be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. At the 
time of the execution of the contract aforesaid, the con- 
tractor shall enter into a bond in the full sum of not less 
than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty thous- 
and dollars, payable to the State of Georgia, the amount 
of said bond within said limits to be fixed by said School- 
book Commission, conditioned upon the faithful, honest 
and exact performance of said contracts, and shall fur- 
ther provide for the payment of reasonable attorney's 
fees in ca^e of recovery on any suit upon the same, with 
three or more good and solvent sureties, actual citizens 
and residents of the State of Georgia, or any guaran- 
tee company authorized to do business in the State of 
Georgia may become the surety on the said bond ; and it 
shall be the duty of the Attorney- General to prepare 
and approve said bond; provided, however, that said 
bond shall not be executed in a single recovery, but may 
be sued upon from time to time, until the full amount 
thereof shall be recovered; and the said School-book 
Commission may, at any time, by giving thirty days' 
notice, require additional security or additional bond 
within the limits prescribed. And when any persons, 
firm or corporation shall have been awarded a contract 
and submitted therewith the bond as required here- 
under, the said School-book Commission, through its 
secretary, shall so inform the Treasurer of the State, 
and it shall then be the duty of the Treasurer of the 
State to return to such contractor the cash deposit made 
by him; and the said School-book Commission, through 
its secretary, shall inform the Treasurer of the State of 
the names of the unsuccessful bidders or proposers, 
and the Treasurer of the State shall, upon receipt of 
this notice, return to the unsuccessful bidders or pro- 
posers the amount deposited in cash by the unsuccess- 
ful bidders or proposers at the time of the submission 
of their bids. But should any person or persons, firm, 
company or corporation fail or refuse to execute the 
contract and submit therewith his bond as required by 
this Act within thirty days of the awarding of the con- 



Unifokm Text-Book Law. 57 

tract to him and the mailing of the registered letter con- 
taining the notice (and it is hereby provided that the 
mailing of the registered letter shall be sufficient evi- 
dence that the notice was given and received), the said 
cash deposit shall be deemed and declared forfeited to 
the State of Georgia, and it shall be the dnty of the 
Treasurer to place said cash deposit in the treasury of 
the State to the credit of the school fund ; and provided, 
further, that any recovery had on any bond given by 
any contractor shall inure to the benefit of the school 
fund of the State, and when collected shall be placed in 
the treasury to the credit of the school fund and be pro- 
rated among the several counties of the State. 

Standard of books — prices — exchange price. 

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That the books furnished under any contract shall 
be equal in all respects to the specimen or sample copies 
furnished with the bids ; and it shall be the duty of the 
Secretary of State to preserve in his office, as the stan- 
dards of quality and excellence to be maintained in 
such books during the continuance of such contract, the 
specimen or sample copies of all books which have been 
the basis of any contract, together with the original bid 
or proposal. It shall be the duty of all contractors to 
print plainly on the back of each book the contract price 
as well as the exchange price at which it is agreed to be 
furnished, but the books submitted as sample or speci- 
men copies with the original bids shall not have the 
price printed on them before they are submitted to the 
sub-commission. And the said School-book Commis- 
sion shall not in any case contract with any person, pub- 
lisher or publishers for the use of any book or books 
which are to be or shall be sold to patrons for use in any 
public school in this State at a price above or in excess 
of the price at which such book or books are furnished 
by said person, publisher or publishers under contract 
to any State, county or school district in the United 
States under like conditions prevailing in that State and 



58 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

in this Act; and it shall be stipulated in each contract 
that the contractor is not now furnishing, under con- 
tract, any State, county or school district in the United 
States where like conditions prevail as are prevailing 
in this State and under this' Act, the same book or books 
as are embraced in said contract at a price lower or less 
than the prices stipulated in the said contract ; and that 
in case said contractors shall hereafter, during the 
term of said contract, contract to furnish, or furnish, to 
any State, county or school district such book or books 
at a lower price than that named in the contract, such 
lower price shall become the price of such book or books 
under the contract entered into with the said School- 
book Commission. And the said School-book Commis- 
sion is hereby authorized and directed at any time they 
find that any book or books are being sold at a lower 
price, under contract, to any State, county or school dis- 
trict aforesaid, to sue upon the bond of said contractor 
and recover the difference between the contract price 
and the lower price at which they find the books are be- 
ing sold. And in case any contractor shall fail to exe- 
cute specifically the terms and provisions of his con- 
tract, said School-book Commission is hereby author- 
ized, empowered and directed to bring suit upon the 
bond of such contractor for the recovery of any and all 
damages, the suit to be in the name of the State of 
Georgia and the recovery for the benefit of the public 
school fund. But nothing in this Act shall be construed 
so as to prevent said School-book Commission, and any 
other contractor agreeing thereto, from in any manner 
changing or altering any contract, provided four mem- 
bers of the State School-book Commission shall agree 
to the change and think it advisable and for the best in- 
terest of the public schools of the State. In all other 
matters a majority of said School-book Commission 
shall control. 

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That it shall be always a part of the terms and 
conditions of any contract made in pursuance of this 



Uniform Text-Book Law. 59 

Act, the State of Georgia shall not be liable to any con- 
tractor, in any manner, for any sum whatever; but all 
such contractors shall receive their pay or consideration 
in compensation solely and exclusively derived from the 
proceeds of the sale of books, as provided for in this 
Act; provided further, that the said School-book Com- 
mission shall stipulate in the contract for the supplying 
of any book or books, as herein provided, that the con- 
tractor or contractors shall take up the school-books 
now in use in this State and receive the same in ex- 
change for new books at a price not less than fifty per 
cent, of the contract price ; but the exchange period shall 
not extend beyond the limit of one year from time of the 
expiration of contracts existing in counties in which 
such said change shall be required under this Act. And 
each person or publisher making any bid for the sup- 
plying of any books hereunder shall state in such bid or 
proposal the exchange price at which such book or books 
shall be furnished. 
Bids may be rejected. 

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That the said School-book Commission shall have 
and reserve the right to reject any and all bids or pro- 
posals if said commission be of the opinion that any or 
all bids should, for any reason, be rejected ; and in case 
they fail from among the bids or proposals submitted to 
select any book or books upon any of the branches of 
study herein provided for in this Act, they may read- 
vertise for sealed bids or proposals under same terms 
and conditions as before, and proceed in their investi- 
gation in all respects as they did in the first instance 
and as required by the terms and provisions of this Act. 
Proclamation by the Governor. 

Sec. 9. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That as soon as said Commission shall have en- 
tered into a contract or contracts for the furnishing or 
supplying of books for use in the public schools of this 
State, it shall be the duty of the Governor to issue his 
proclamation announcing such fact to the people of the 
State. 



60 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Depositories. 

Sec. 10. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That the party or parties with whom the contract 
or contracts shall be made shall establish and maintain 
in some city in this State a depository where a stock of 
their books sufficient to supply all the immediate de- 
mands shall be kept. They shall also establish and 
maintain not less than one nor more than three agencies 
in every county in the State as the State School-book 
Commission shall deem advisable and demand, for dis- 
tribution of the books to the patrons; but the contrac- 
tors shall also be permitted to make arrangements with 
merchants or others for the handling and distribution 
of the books. Any party not living conveniently near 
an agency or county depository may order any books 
desired from the central depository direct, and it shall 
be the duty of the contractor to deliver any book or 
books so ordered to the person so ordering to his post- 
office address, freight, express, postage or other 
charges prepaid, at the retail contract price; provided, 
that the price of the book or books so ordered shall be 
paid in advance. All books shall be sold to the consum- 
er at the retail contract prices, and on the cover of each 
book shall be printed the following : ' ' The price print- 
ed hereon is fixed by a State contract, and any deviation 
therefrom shall be reported to your County School Com- 
Commissioner or to the State School Commissioner at 
Atlanta"; and it is expressly provided that should any 
party contracting to furnish books as provided for in 
this Act fail to furnish them, or otherwise breach his 
contract, in addition to the right of the State to sue on 
the bond herein above required, the County Board of 
Education may sue in the name of the State of Georgia 
in any court having jurisdiction and recover on the bond 
of the contractor the full value of the books so failed to 
be furnished, for the use and benefit of the school fund 
of the county; provided, that the right of action given 
to the County Board of Education shall be limited to 
breaches of the contract committed in that county. 



Uniform Text-Book Law. 61 

Powers of Commission. 

Sec. 11. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That the said School-book Commission may from 
time to time make any necessary regulations not con- 
trary to the provisions of this Act, to secure the prompt 
distribution of the books herein provided for and the 
prompt and faithful execution of all contracts ; and it is 
expressly now provided that said commission shall 
maintain its organization during the five years of the 
continuance of the contract, and after the expiration of 
the same to renew such of them as they deem advisable, 
or readvertise for new bids or proposals as required by 
this Act in the first instance, and enter into such other 
contracts as they may deem for the best interest of the 
patrons of the public schools of the State; provided, 
that any contract entered into or renewed shall be for 
the term of five years. 

Notice by State School Commissioner. 

Sec. 12. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That as soon as practicable after the adoption pro- 
vided for in this Act, the State School Commissioner 
shall issue a circular letter to each county commissioner 
and city superintendent in the State, and to such others 
as he may desire to send it, which letter shall contain the 
list of books adopted, the prices, location of agencies, 
method of distribution, and such other information as he 
may deem necessary. 

Books adopted to be used to exclusion of others — Supple- 
mentary readers. 

Sec. 13. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That the books adopted under the provisions of 
this Act shall be used to the exclusion of all others on 
the same subject in all the public common schools of the 
State; provided, that supplementary readers may be 
used in any of the common schools of the State, but even 
supplementary readers shall not be used until after the 



62 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

regular readers prescribed have been completed, and in 
no case shall supplementary readers be used to the ex- 
clusion of the regular readers adopted under this Act. 

Sec. 14. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That any person or persons violating the preceding 
Section of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine 
of not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five 
dollars. 

Penalties for violation of law. 

Sec. 15. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That if any county school commissioner fails or 
refuses to enforce the provisions of this Act, said county 
shall receive no part of the public school fund of the 
State of Georgia until the provisions of this Act have 
been complied with. Any teacher of a public common 
school in this State violating the provisions of this Act 
shall not receive any salary so long as he or she shall 
fail to carry out the provisions of this Act. Any 
teacher who shall use or permit to be used in his or her 
school any text-book upon the branches embraced in this 
Act, where the commission has adopted a book upon that 
branch, other than the one so adopted (except it be sup- 
plementary readers, as provided in Section 13) shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished as pro- 
vided in Section 14 of this Act. 

Sec. 16. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That if any local agent, dealer, clerk or other per- 
son handling or selling the books adopted under this Act 
shall demand or receive for any copy of any of the books 
herein provided for, more than the contract price in 
cases where the purchase is for cash, he shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall for each 
offense be punished by fine not less than fifty nor more 
than two hundred dollars. 

Appropriation for expenses of adoption. 

Sec. 17. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That the sum of one thousand dollars, or so much 



Local Tax Law. 63 

thereof as may be necessary, to be paid out of the public 
school fund, be, and is, hereby appropriated for the pur- 
pose of paying the cost and expense of carrying into 
eect the provisions of this Act. 

Per diem and expenses of members of sub-commission. 

Sec. 18. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That said School-book Commission shall serve 
without compensation, and the members of the sub-com- 
mission of five shall be paid a per diem of four dollars 
per day during the time they are actually engaged, not 
to exceed thirty days, and in addition shall be repaid all 
money actually expended by them in the payment of nec- 
essary expenses, to be paid out of the public school fund, 
and they shall make out and swear to an itemized state- 
ment of such expenses. 

Terms of contract. 

Sec. 19. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That the adoptions made under the provisions of 
this Act shall continue for five years from the first day 
of January, 1904, and any adoption of books made after 
this time shall terminate with all other adoptions on the 
first day of January, 1904, and that all contracts for 
school-books made by county boards of education now 
existing and extending beyond the first day of January, 
1904, shall not be affected by this Act, but no new con- 
tracts shall be made after the passage of this Act by any 
county board of education, or by the board of education 
of any city or town in this State, except the boards of 
education in Georgia having under their control a sys- 
tem of graded schools in part supported by local taxa- 
tion and maintained for at least eight months in each 
year. 

Repealing clause. 

Sec. 20. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this 
Act be, and the same are, hereby repealed. 

Approved August 13, 1903. 



64 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

LOCAL TAX LAW^ 

'PAET XII. 



LOCAL TAX DISTRICT SCHOOLS AND LOCAL TAX 
BY COUNTIES. 



(AMENDED AUGUST 22, 1907.) 



County Boards to lay off school districts. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the (xeneral Assembly of 
Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the 
same, That within thirty days after the passage of this 
Act, or as soon thereafter as practicable, it shall be the 
duty of the County Board of Education of each county 
in Georgia to lay off the county into school districts, the 
lines of which shall be clearly and positively defined by 
boundaries such as creeks, public roads, land lots, dis- 
trict lines or county lines. The school district thus 
marked out shall contain an area of not less than sixteen 
square miles, and, when practicable, shall be so shaped 
as to have the school building as near the center as pos- 
sible, and no territory shall be included whose occupants 
reside farther than three miles from the schoolhouse 
without written petition of two-thirds of the qualified 
voters therein; provided, that the Board of Education 
may have the right to establish districts with areas less 
than sixteen square miles where there are natural causes 
or local conditions that make it necessary to do so. The 
natural causes which will permit the creation of smaller 
districts are mountains, streams over which there are no 
bridges, and dangerous roads. Local conditions which 
will permit the creation of small districts must be deter- 
mined by the board of education. 



■ ' Local Tax Law. 65 

In counties having incorporated towns, now levying 
a local tax for educational purposes, and operating a 
public school system under their own charter or special 
Act of the Legislature, the County Board of Education, 
with the consent of the municipal authorities, may cre- 
ate a school district larger than the incorporated limits 
of the town by adding adjacent territory not already in- 
cluded in the incorporated limits, and the district thus 
marked out shall become a school district upon the vote 
of the people as hereinafter provided, but such school 
district, including incorporated towns having a popula- 
tion of four thousand or more, shall be and remain un- 
der the exclusive supervision and direction of the school 
boards of the previously chartered schools in said class 
of incorporated towns and not under supervision of 
County Board of Education; and the school boards of 
such chartered schools in incorporated towns shall be 
trustees of said school district under this Act ; provided 
further, that if there be located in such district a char- 
tered school controlled by a board of stockholders or by 
board of directors elected by them, the management and 
control of said chartered school shall remain in them, 
and they shall have all -the rights and privileges of this 
Act to collect local taxes as hereinafter provided in this 
Act, and to receive the share of the State public school 
fund. A map of the county thus laid off, plainly outlin- 
ing the boundaries of the school district with full de- 
scription thereof, shall be filed with the Ordinary within 
forty days after the passage of this Act, or as soon 
thereafter as practicable, and the boundaries of said 
school districts shall not be altered any oftener than 
once a year. The County Board of Education in laying 
off the county shall disregard any school districts em- 
bracing territory not included in incorporated towns 
heretofore created by special Act of the Legislature. 
The failure on the part of any board of education to per- 
form the duties required by this Act, shall be immedi- 
ately inquired into by the first grand jury sitting after 
such neglect of duty, and if said grand jury shall find 
that any member or members of said board have failed 



66 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

to perform their duty it shall report the same to the 
judge of the superior court, who shall cause a rule nisi 
to issue against such member or members, and they shall 
be heard by the judge in their own behalf; if the said 
member or members can not give a good and sufficient 
reason why they have not performed their duties as re- 
quired by this Act, they shall be discharged, and the said 
judge shall fill the vacancies until the next grand jury 
shall meet. 

Election of Trustees. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted. That within ninety 
days after the board of education has laid off the county 
as required in Section 1, the said board of education 
shall order the citizens of the several school districts to 
hold an election for the purpose of electing three trus- 
tees for each district in the county. Said election shall 
be held at a time and place, and in a manner prescribed 
by the County Board of Education. The said trustees 
shall be intelligent citizens of good moral character who 
are known to be earnest supporters of public education, 
and they shall serve one for three years, one for two 
years, and one for one year, as the County Board of 
Education may determine. In districts containing in- 
corporated towns there may be five trustees, one of 
whom shall be elected for one year two for two 
years, and two for three years. The notice of their 
election shall be filed by the election managers with the 
County School Commissioner, who shall submit the same 
to the County Board of Education for their approval. 
After the said local board of trustees have been ap- 
proved and properly commissioned by the County Board 
of Education, it shall meet immediately and organize by 
electing one of its members president, and one secretary 
and treasurer. If the County Board of Education 
should consider any member or members unqualified for 
the work, they shall refuse to confirm the election of 
such member or members and require the citizens of a 
district at a time and place, and in a manner prescribed 



Local Tax Law. 67 

by the County Board of Education, to elect others. At 
the expiration of the term of office of the members thus 
elected the citizens of a district shall meet at a time and 
place, and in a manner prescribed by the County Board 
of Education, and elect their successors, who must be 
approved by the County Board of Education as herein- 
before provided, and the election shall be for a term of 
three years. If any member should refuse to act, or 
should be guilty of any conduct unbecoming the dignity 
of a school trustee, the County Board of Education shall 
have the right, upon a written complaint of a majority 
of the voters of the district to remove said member and 
have his successor elected as hereinbefore provided. 
But no trustee shall be removed from office without suffi- 
cient proof, and he shall be served with a copy of such 
complaint at least ten days prior to the day set for the 
hearing, when such trustee shall be afforded an oppor- 
tunity to be heard in his defense. 

County election : how ordered — ^who shall vote — limit to rate 
of taxation. 

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That whenever the citi- 
zens of any county wish to supplement the public school 
fund received from the State by levying a tax upon the 
property of the county, it shall be the duty of the Ordi- 
nary to order an election, not earlier than twenty days, 
nor later than sixty days, after receiving a petition of 
one-fourth of the qualified voters of the county; and 
notice of the same shall be published in at least three 
weekly issues of the county newspaper in which legal 
advertisements of the county are published. Said elec- 
tions shall be held as ordinary county elections are held. 
Those favoring the levying of the local tax shall vote for 
*' Local tax for public schools" ; those opposed shall vote 
''Against local tax for public schools." The returns of 
said election shall be made to the ordinary of the county, 
who shall declare the results, and two-thirds of those 
voting shall be necessary to carry said election for local 
taxation for public schools. An election for the same 



68 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

purpose shall not be held oftener than every twelve 
months. No person shall be allowed to vote in said elec- 
tion except those regularly qualified to vote in State and 
county elections. If the election is carried for local 
taxation, the ordinary or board of county commission- 
ers, whichever levies the county tax, shall levy a local 
tax as recommended by the County Board of Education 
upon all the property of the county, not to exceed one- 
half of one per cent., and the same shall be collected by 
the county tax-collector and paid by him to the County 
Board of Education. The county tax-collector shall 
keep the funds thus collected separate and distinct from 
all county and State funds, and he shall receive a com- 
mission of two and one-half per cent, for collecting the 
same. Provided, That if there be an incorporated town 
in a county holding an election as provided in this Sec- 
tion now operating a public school system, it shall not be 
included in the election without the consent of the muni- 
cipal authorities, but if the municipal authorities should 
so wish they may abolish their system by a special Act 
of the Legislature, and avail themselves of the provis- 
ions of this bill. 

Levy and collection of district tax. 

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted. That whenever the 
citizens of any school district wish to supplement the 
funds received from the State public school fund by 
levying a tax for educational purposes, they shall pre- 
sent a petition from one-fourth of the qualified voters 
of the district to the Ordinary, who shall order the elec- 
tion not earlier than twenty days, nor later than sixty 
days, after the petition is received ; provided, that notice 
of same shall be posted in at least three conspicuous 
places in the district ten days prior to the election. The 
election shall be held at a time and place prescribed by 
the proper authorities, and under rules governing ordi- 
nary elections. Those favoring local taxation for pub- 
lic schools shall vote ''For local taxation for public 
schools;" those opposed, shall vote "Against local taxa- 



Local Tax Law. 69 

tion for public schools." The returns of said election 
shall be made to the Ordinary of the county, who shall 
declare the results, and two-thirds of those voting shall 
be necessary to carry the election for local taxation for 
public schools. No person shall vote in said election 
except the regularly qualified voters residing in the dis- 
trict six months prior to the election. An election for 
the same purpose shall not be held oftener than every 
twelve months. 

Tax returns in local-tax districts. 

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted. That in those districts 
which levy a local tax for educational purposes, the 
board of trustees shall make all rules and regulations 
to govern the schools of the districts, and build and 
equip schoolhouses under the approval of the County 
Board of Education. They shall have the right to fix 
the rate of tuition for non-resident pupils, and to fix the 
salaries of the teachers. They shall receive from the 
County Board of Education the share of public school 
funds apportioned to the district by the County Board 
of Education. They shall determine the amount neces- 
sary to be raised by local tax on all of the property of 
the district. The Secretary of the Board of Trustees 
of said district, with the aid of the County School Com- 
missioner of said county, shall ascertain from the tax 
returns made to the tax-receiver and from the returns 
made to the Comptroller-General, the total value of all 
of the property in said district subject to taxation for 
county purposes, and a regular digest of all such prop- 
erty in said school district, shall be made by said secre- 
tary in a book furnished by the Board of Trustees and 
kept for that purpose. At or before the time of fixing 
the rate of taxation for said county, the secretary of 
each local Board of Trustees, with the aid of the County 
School Commissioner, shall levy such rate on the prop- 
erty thus found as will raise the total amount to be col- 
lected; provided, that such rate shall not exceed one-half 
of one per cent. The County School Commissioner of 



70 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

each county, at or before the time for fixing the rate of 
said county by the ordinary thereof, or the County 
Board of Commissioners, as the case may be, shall cer- 
tify to the said Ordinary, or said Board of Commission- 
ers, as the case may be, and to the Comptroller-General 
of the State the rate of taxation fixed for each school 
district in the county, and said taxing authority of said 
county shall levy such special tax at the same time and 
in the same manner as is now prescribed for levying 
taxes for county purposes. 

A copy of the special tax digest of said local tax dis- 
trict shall be furnished by the secretary of the local 
board of trustees to the tax-collector of the county, and 
it shall be his duty to compute and collect said taxes, 
keeping the same separate by school districts from the 
county and State funds, and turn same over to the secre- 
tary of such local school districts, as well as tax received 
for said district from railroads and other corporations 
that make their returns to the Comptroller-General, 
taking the receipt for the same upon order from the 
County School Commissioner; and said tax-collector 
shall receive as compensation therefor two and one-half 
per cent, of the amount collected. 

In any case in which it is impossible to determine 
from tax returns made to the tax-receiver of the county 
the value of the property of any citizen situated in any 
school district and subject to taxation in said district, 
the secretary of the Board of Trustees shall issue a sum- 
mons to said taxpayer requiring him to make returns 
within five days to said secretary of his property situ- 
ated in said district and subject to taxation for school 
purposes. Should said return be unsatisfactory to said 
secretary, he shall reject the same and submit said re- 
turns to arbitration as is now provided by law for such 
cases when returns are rejected by tax-receivers. 

All property, both real and personal, including fran- 
chises belonging to railroads, telegraph and telephone 
companies, and to all other corporations which are now 



Local Tax Law. 71 

required to make their returns to the Comptroller-Gen- 
eral of this State, which is in the taxable limit of any 
school district shall be, and the same is, hereby made 
subject to taxation by said school districts as fully and 
completely as is the property of other corporations 
within such taxable limits. 

It is hereby made the duty of every such corporation 
in this State, in addition to the facts now required to be 
shown in their returns to the Comptroller-General to 
also show in said returns the value of such corporation's 
property in each of said school districts through which 
it runs. And for the purpose of enabling such corpora- 
tion to show in said returns the value of its property in 
such school districts, it is hereby made the duty of the 
County Superintendent of Schools of each county to fur- 
nish on or before January 1, 1907, to each such corpora- 
tion, information as to the boundaries of each school dis- 
trict in which such corporation may have property, such 
as will enable such corporation to determine the amount 
of its property in such district, and he shall also furnish 
similar information whenever the boundaries of any 
school district may be changed. 

The rolling-stock, franchises and other personal prop- 
erty of said corporations shall be distributed to said 
school districts on the same basis that rolling-stock, 
franchises and other personal property are distributed 
to counties and municipalities under the law ; that is, as 
the value of the property located in the particular dis- 
trict is to the whole located property, real and personal 
of said corporation, such shall be the amount of rolling- 
stock, franchises, and other personal property to be dis- 
tributed for taxing purposes to each school district. 

All of the other provisions of the Act of October 16, 
1889, entitled ''An Act to provide a system of taxation 
of railroad property in each of the counties of the State 
through which said railroad runs, and to provide a mode 
of assessing and collecting the same, and for other pur- 
poses," in so far as they can be applied are hereby made 
applicable to the assessment and collection of taxes of 



72 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

all such companies and corporations which are now re- 
quired by law to make their returns to the Comptroller- 
General, by and for school districts in this State upon 
the property and franchises of such companies located 
in such school districts and upon the rolling-stock, fran- 
chises and other personal property distributed under 
the provisions of this Act. 

Secretary and Treasurer of Board of Trustees — statements 
and reports. 

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That the board of trus- 
tees may have the right to pay the secretary and treas- 
urer a commission on the amount of local tax collected 
not to exceed two and one-half per cent., but there shall 
be no commission allowed on the amount received from 
the State. They shall furnish quarterly to the County 
Board of Education a statement showing all receipts, 
disbursements, and cash on hand. They shall also fur- 
nish statement showing school population, enrollment, 
average attendance, course of study and other data the 
County Board of Education may require whenever 
called upon to do so. 

General school laws to be observed. 

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted. That while it is the 
purpose and spirit of this Act to encourage individual 
action and local self-help upon the part of the school 
districts, it is expressly understood that the general 
school laws of this State as administered by the County 
Board of Education shall be observed. 

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted. That all elections held 
under the provisions of this Act shall be governed as to 
registration and qualification of voters as the general 
law governing special elections provides. 

Sec. 9. Be it further enacted. That all laws and parts 
of laws in conflict with this Act be, and the- same are, 
hereby repealed. 

Approved August 21, 1906. 

Amendments approved August 22, 1907. 



Georgia State Reformatory. 73 

Georgia State Reformatory. 
PAET xin. 

CHILD LABOR LAW. 

No child under ten years old to work in a factory. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the 
same, That from and after the approval of this Act, no 
child under ten years of age shall be employed or al- 
lowed to labor in or about any factory or manufacturing 
establishment within this State under any circumstances. 

Certificate of Ordinary for any child under twelve. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That on and after January 1st, 1907, no child under 
twelve years of age shall be so employed or allowed to 
labor, unless such child be an orphan, and has no other 
means of support, or unless a widowed mother or an 
aged or disabled father is dependent upon the labor of 
such child, in which event, before putting such child at 
such labor, such father shall produce and file in the 
office of such factory or manufacturing establishment, a 
certificate from the Ordinary of the county in which «uch 
factory or establishment is located, certifying under his 
seal of office to the facts required to be shown as herein 
prescribed; provided, that no Ordinary shall issue any 
such certificate except upon strict proof in writing and 
under oath, clearly showing the necessary facts; and 
providing* further, that no such certificate shall be 
granted for longer than one year, nor accepted by any 
employer after one year from the date of such certifi- 
cate. 

No child under fourteen to work at night. 
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 



74 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

said, That on and after January 1st, 1908, no child under 
fourteen years of age shall be employed or allowed to 
labor in or about any factory or manufacturing estab- 
lishment within this State between the hours of seven 
p. M. and six a. m. 

Children under fourteen must attend school twelve weeks 
each year. 

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That on and after January 1st, 1908, no child, ex- 
cept as heretofore provided, under fourteen years of 
age, shall be employed or allowed to labor in or about 
enj factory or manufacturing establishment within this 
State unless he or she can write his or her name and 
simple sentences, and shall have attended school for 
twelve weeks of the preceding year, six weeks of which 
school attendance shall be consecutive ; and no such child 
as aforesaid, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen 
years, shall be so employed unless such child shall have 
attended school for twelve weeks of the preceding year, 
six weeks of which school attendance shall be consecu- 
tive ; and at the end of each year, until such child shall 
have passed the public school age, an affidavit certifying 
to such attendance as is required by this Section, shall 
be furnished to the employer by the parent or guardian 
or person sustaining parental relation to such child. 
The provisions of this Section shall apply only to chil- 
dren entering such employment at the age of fourteen 
years or less. 

Unlawful to employ children before affidavit is filed. 

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That it shall be unlawful for any owner, superin- 
tendent, agent or any other person acting for or in 
behalf of any factory or manufacturing establishment 
to hire or employ any child unless there is first provided 
and placed on file in the office of such employer an affida- 
vit signed by the parent, guardian or person standing in 
parental relation thereto, certifying to the age and date 



Georgia State Eeformatory. - . 75 

of birth of such child, and other facts required in this 
Act. Any person knowingly furnishing a false affidavit 
as to the age, or as to any other facts required in this 
Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on 
conviction thereof shall be punished as prescribed in 
Section 1039 of the Penal Code of Georgia of 1895. 

Inspection by Grand Jury. 

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That the affidavit and certificates required in this 
Act shall be open to inspection by the Grand Juries of 
any county where such factory.or manufacturing estab- 
lishments are located. 

Penalty for Violation of this Act 

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said, That any person or agent, or representative of any 
firm or corporation who shall violate any provision of 
this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
on conviction shall be punished as prescribed in Section 
1039 of the Penal Code of Georgia of 1895. Any parent, 
guardian or other person standing in parental relation 
to a child, who shall hire or place for employment or 
labor in or about any factory or manufacturing estab- 
lishment within this State, a child in violation of any 
provision of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished as 
prescribed in Section 1039 of the Penal Code of Georgia, 
1895. 

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted by the authority afore- 
said. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this 
Act be, and the same are, hereby repealed. 

Approved August 1st, 1906. 

GEORGIA STATE REFORMATORY. 
State Reformatory established. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
Geor^a^ and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the 



76 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

same, That there is hereby created and established a 
State institution to be known as the Georgia State 
Eeformatory. 

Who may be committed to Reformatory — limit to term of 
sentence. 

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That all persons of the 
age of sixteen years or under who have been, after the 
opening of said Reformatory, duly convicted in any of 
the courts of this State of any crime against the laws of 
this State, not punishable by death or imprisonment for 
life, may in the discretion of the judge having jurisdic- 
tion, be committed to the Georgia State Reformatory. 

Sec. 3. The judge committing a person to the Geor- 
gia State Reformatory shall not fix a limit to the dura- 
tion of the commitment unless the same be for more than 
five years, but shall merely commit said person to the 
Georgia State Reformatory; but no sentence shall 
extend beyond the time when the person sentenced shall 
have arrived at the age of twenty-one years. 

Sec. 4. Any person committed to the Georgia State 
Reformatory for an offense punishable by imprisonment 
in the penitentiary may be held in said reformatory for 
a term not exceeding five years, or, if committed for a 
longer term than five years, may be held for such longer 
term; and any person committed to said reformatory 
for an offense that is punishable as for a misdemeanor, 
may be held in said reformatory for a term not exceed- 
ing two years; provided, however, that no person shall 
be held in said reformatory after he or she has arrived 
at the age of twenty-one years. 

Rules and Regulations — Superintendent and other employes. 

Sec. 5. The general supervision, control and govern- 
ment of said reformatory shall be vested in the Prison 
Commission of Georgia, and said commission shall have 
power to make all rules and regulations necessary and 
proper for the employment, discipline, instruction and 



Georgia State Keformatory. 77 

education of the inmates detained in said reformatory, 
and shall also have power to determine in their discre- 
tion as to what character or kind of work any particular 
inmate shall be required at any time to perform. 

Sec. 6. The Prison Commission shall have power to 
appoint, with the approval of the Governor, a fit and 
proper person as superintendent of said reformatory, 
at a salary not exceeding twelve hundred dollars per 
year. The said superintendent shall reside at said 
reformatory and his lodging and board shall be fur- 
nished at the expense of the State. The duties of said 
superintendent shall be prescribed by the commission, 
and he shall be under its direction and control, and sub- 
ject to removal by the commission at any time. The 
said commission shall also appoint such teachers, guards 
and other employees as are necessary to the proper 
conducting of said reformatory, and shall prescribe their 
duties and fix their salaries, but the amounts of such 
salaries before allowed shall be approved by the Gov- 
ernor. 

Branches of study to be taught — discipline. 

Sec. 7. The inmates of said reformatory shall be 
employed in agricultural, domestic and mechanical work, 
and shall be given a reasonable amount of instruction in 
the elementary branches of an English education. The 
commission, if it deem best, is empowered to establish 
and maintain in connection with said institution a system 
of manual training and instruction in trades, anS create 
such industries, productive or otherwise, as are, in their 
opinion, to the best interests of the inmates of said 
reformatory. 

Sec. 8, The discipline to be observed in said institu- 
tion shall be reformatory, and the commission shall have 
power to use such means of reformation as is consistent 
with the improvement of the inmates as it may deem 
best and expedient; but a method of discipline shall be 



78 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

used as will, as far as i3ossible, reform tlie characters of 

the inmates, preserve their health, promote regular 
improvement in their studies and employment, and 
secure in them fixed habits in religion, morality and 
industry; and the commission shall maintain such con- 
trol over said inmates as will prevent them from com- 
mitting crime, best secure their self-support, accomphsh 
their reformation, and that will tend to make of them 
good and law-abiding citizens. 

System of parole. 

Sec. 9. The commission shall have the j)ower to 
estabhsh such system of parole of the inmates as it shall 
deem proper, and shall have power to establish rules 
and regulations under which prisoners within the 
reformatory may be allowed to go outside of the 
grounds, but to remain while on parole within the legal 
custody and under the control of the commission and 
subject at any time to be taken back within the enclosure 
of said reformatory. 

Sec. 10. Whenever it shall aiDpear to the commission 
that any person in the reformatory has reformed, after 
the expiration of one year from his or her reception 
therein, it may, with the approval of the Governor, issue 
to him a i^ermit to be at hberty during the remainder of 
his or her term upon such conditions as the commission 
may deem best, and the commission shall have power to 
revoke such permit in their discretion. 

Sec. 11. A written order signed by any member of 
the Prison Commission shall be sufficient warrant to any 
officer of the State, or any other person named in said 
order, to authorize said officer, or other jjerson named, 
to arrest and return to actual custody any conditionally 
released or paroled inmate, and it is hereby made the 
duty of all officers of the State to execute any such order 
placed in their hands, the same as any ordinary criminal 
warrant. 



(jEOEGiA State Eetobmatcibt. 79 

Sec. 12. Whenever it sliall appear to the commissioii 
that there is a strong or reasonable probability that any 
inmate wonld Kve and remain at liberty without violat- 
ing the law. and that his or her release is not incompati- 
ble with the welfare of society, the commission shall so 
report to the Governor, who, if he deem proper, may 
give to said inmate an absolute release, which release 
shall operate as a pardon, or restore to the prisoner so 
released all his or her rights of citizenship. 
Separation of races. 

Sec. 13. The white and colored inmates shall be kept 
separate and distinct in all work and study. The males 
and females shall be kept separate as far as practicable. 
Records of Reformatory. 

Sec. 14. When any person shall be received in the 
said reformatory there shall be entered in a registry 
book kept for that purpose the date of such admission. 
giving the name, age, sex and color, and court from 
which committed and for what offense. 

Sec. 15. Whenever any court in this State shall com- 
mit any person to the reformatory, the clerk of said 
court shall furnish to the commission a certili^ record 
showing the order of commitment, age of the person, 
and the offense for which he or she was convicted. 
Upon receipt of such record the commission shrill send 
a proper delegated person to the place where said per- 
son is detiiined. and the officer having custody of the 
person shall deliver him or her to said delegated person. 
and such person shall thereupon be conveyed to the 
reformatory at the expense of the State. 

Removal of prisoners novt in confinement and under sixteen 
years of age. 

Sec. 16. Prisoners in confinement at the State prison 
farm, or on the chain-gangs of this State, at the time of 
the opening of the reformatory, who are of the age of 
sixteen years, or under, who have not been sentenced for 



80 Compilation of Common" School Laws. 

life, may, in the discretion of the commission, be 
removed by the commission to said reformatory, and 
all the terms of this Act shall apply to all such removed 
persons. 

Credits for good behavior. 

Sec. 17. The commission shall, under a system of 
marks or otherwise, fix upon a uniform plan by which it 
shall determine what credit shall be allowed as earned 
by each inmate as the condition of increased privileges 
or of a release from the reformatory, which system shall 
be subject to a revision from time to time by the com- 
mission. Each inmate shall be credited for good per- 
sonal demeanor, diligence in labor and study, and for 
results accomplished, and be charged for dereliction, 
negligence, offenses and violation of any of the rules of 
the institution. 

Sec. 18. The inmates of said reformatory shall be 
credited with their good behavior, and their time of 
sentence shortened as is now provided by law and 
allowed to misdemeanor and felony contacts. The time 
of those persons sentenced to said reformatory for a 
misdemeanor shall be shortened as provided in Section 
1150 of the Penal Code, and the time of those committed 
to said reformatory for a felony shall be shortened as 
provided in Section 1173 of the Penal Code. 
Disposition of agricultural products. 

Sec. 19. The commission shall sell to the best advan- 
tage all agricultural products not used in the reforma- 
tory, and shall apply the proceeds thereof to the main- 
tenance of the institution as far as necessary. Should 
any surplus funds arise from this source, they shall' be 
paid into the State treasury annually, and the commis- 
sion shall at the end of each quarter make to the Gov- 
ernor a detailed report of all such transactions. 

Site — ^buildings. 

Sec. 20. The Prison Commission shall, within three 
months from the passage of this Act, with the consent of 



Extracts feom Decisions and Insteuctions. 81 

the Governor, select a suitable and proper site for said 
reformatory upon the State lands in Baldwin county. 

Sec. 21. The commission shall, as soon as possible 
after the selection of the site for said reformatory, erect 
suitable buildings for the care of not less than one hun- 
dred and twenty-five inmates, with workrooms, school- 
rooms, and such other building as may be necessary, and 
shall iDurchase and equip the same with such furniture 
and equipment as may be necessary, and shall also pur- 
chase such live stock, tools and other supplies as the 
commission may deem necessary. The erection of the 
buildings and equipment of the same shall be vigorously 
carried on so that the reformatory may be opened at the 
earliest practicable time, and if possible be ready for 
occupancy by the first day of January, 1906. 

Appropriation. 

Sec. 22. To carry out the purposes of this Act there 
is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State 
treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten 
thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be neces- 
sary, to be paid in such sums at such times as the con- 
struction of the buildings and the equipment of the same 
may require, and the Governor is hereby authorized to 
draw his warrant on the Treasurer for said amount. 

Sec. 23. For the purpose of maintaining and operat- 
ing said reformatory for the first year, there is hereby 
appropriated out of any money in the State treasury 
not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ten thousand 
dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, the 
same to be available and payable as the said sums may 
be required by the Prison Commission, and the Gover- 
nor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the 
Treasurer for said amount. 

Governor's proclamation. 

Sec. 24. Whenever said reformatory is ready for 
occupancy, the Prison Commission shall give notice to 



2 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

tlie Governor, and thereupon the Grovernor shall issue 
his proclamtion declaring the Georgia State Eeforma- 
tory open and ready to receive the class of persons pro- 
vided for in this Act. When said proclamation is 
issued, the courts of this State shall take cognizance of 
the same, and shall, in their discretion, sentence the 
class of persons designated in this Act to said reforma- 
tory. 

County and municipal reformatory. 

Sec. 25. The terms of this Act shall not affect any 
county or municipal reformatory for juvenile misde- 
meanor convicts now established, or which may here- 
after be established, under the law now of force as con- 
tained in Section 1192 et sequitur of the Penal Code; 
provided), however, that should any such county at any 
time abolish its reformatory, the provisions of this Act 
shall apply to such county, and the inmates of the abol- 
ished reformatory shall be received in the Georgia State 
Reformatory without expense to the State of transpor- 
tation, if such inmates are otherwise entitled to be 
received in said State institution. 

Repealing clause. 

Sec. 26. Be it further enacted, That all laws and 
parts of laws in conflict with this Act be, and the same 
are, hereby repealed. 

Approved August 23, 1905. 



EXTEACTS FROM DECISIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS. 83 



PART XIV. 

EXTRACTS FROM DECISIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS 
OF STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 

Note I. Resignation should be tendered to Governor. 

"When a member of a Board, or a County School Com- 
missioner desires to resign, he should tender his resig- 
nation to the Governor, and not to the Board or Grand 
Jury. 

— G. J. Orr, Instructions March, 1876. 

Note 2. Requisites of certificates of election. 

The certificate of the election of members of the 
County Board must have the following requisites : 

1. It must be officially signed by the Clerk of the 
Superior Court, and must be under his seal of office. 

2. It must give the names of the members of the 
Board chosen, and must state whom they succeed. 

3. It must state how the latter vacated their offices. 

4. It must state the term of court at which the action 
was taken. 

When a vacancy is filled by the Judge of the Superior 
Court, the above rules will apply to the certificate then 
given, except where, from the nature of the case, they 
are inapplicable. 

— G. J. Orr, Instructions March, 1876. 
Note 3. The Bible in the public schools. 

The Bible can not be excluded from the public schools 
of the State. 

The proviso interdicting the exclusion of the Bible 



84 Compilation of Common School Laws. . 

from tlie public schools is the law in places where local 
school laws are in operation as well as elsewhere. 

— G. J. Orr, Instructions April, 1878. 

Note 4. Particualrs to be embraced in report of elections of 
member of Board. 

In electing members of the Board, the jury should 
embrace in their presentments the following particu- 
lars : 

1. They should state correctly the names of the mem- 
bers chosen. 

2. They should state whom each newly chosen mem- 
ber succeeds. 

3. They should state how the vacancy occurred; 
whether by expiration of the term, by death, by resigna- 
tion or otherwise. 

— G. J. Orr, Instructions April, 1878. 

Note 5. Disturbing schools. 

Persons who wilfully interrupt or disturb any public 
school, private school or Sunday-school are guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and, on conviction, are punishable as pro- 
vided in Section 4310 of the Code of 1873. 

(See Code Vol. Ill, Sec. 427.) 

— G. J. Orr, Instructions 1882. 

Note 6. Pupil going from one district school to another. 

The proper rule is that a pupil can go from one public 
school to another only by consent of the Board, or 
County School Commissioner, for a good and sufficient 
cause, the Board or Commissioner being the judge. 

— J. S. Hook, Instructions January 10, 1888. 

Note 7. Original jurisdiction in revoking teacher's license. 

"Original jurisdiction in the revoking of a teacher's 
license rests with the County School Commissioner. 



EXTEACTS FEOM DECISIONS OF StATE BoAED. 85 

Appeals on such action of the County School Commis- 
sioner come only before the County Board of Educa- 
tion." 

—S. D. Bractwell, 1895. 

Note 8. Selection of teachers under control of county board. 

"The law places the selection of teachers under the 
control of the County Board of Education. The County 
Board may delegate this authority, under the law, to a 
local board consisting of three citizens of the sub-school 
district in which the school is located. Even when there 
is a unanimous choice of a teacher by the local board, 
the County Board may still refuse to contract with such 
teacher in case they become satisfied that a better 
teacher may be secured for the school." 

— G. R. Glenn, December 22, 1897. 

Note g. County board has authority to change school sites. 

''In this case it appears from the records that the 
people of one of the school districts agreed that the 
County Board of Education should select the location 
for a school-house. Proceeding upon this agreement, 
the Board did select a locality as near the center of the 
district as possible. It appears that a creek divides the 
district, and those patrons who lived on the side of the 
creek opposite the locality selected for the school-house, 
refused to patronize the school as located, and appealed 
from the action of the Board of Education, asking that 
the Board be enjoined from paying to the teacher that 
part of the school fund which they allege should be set 
apart for their children. 

' ' The law also gives the Board of Education authority 
to locate schools at any point in the school district that 
may be most convenient for a majority of the children. 
In the above stated case the action of the Board in locat- 
ing this school is already confirmed by the agreement of 
the citizens to abide by any selection of locality that the 
Board might make. The remedy in such a case as this 



86 CoMPiLATioisr OF Common School Laws. 

is the erection of a good foot bridge over that creek, 
high enough and safe enough for the children to pass 
over without harm even when the waters are high." 

— G. R. Glenn, January lA, 1899. 

Note 10. Final choice of teachers and power to make con- 
tracts is with county board. 

''The law does not compel County Boards of Educa- 
tion to confirm the choice of local trustees in selecting 
teachers even when such teachers are regularly and 
legally appointed. The final choice of teachers, and the 
power to make contracts with teachers are vested, under 
the law, wholly in the County Board of Education." 

—G. R. Glenn, November 13, 1899. 
Note II. Law gives to county boards certain discretion. 

"The law leaves the final selection of teachers and 
school ^ites with the County Boards of Education. The 
members of the County Boards of Education, like other 
judicial officers, are allowed certain discretion, and when 
the action of these Boards are not illegal, and are not 
beyond the bounds of reason, these actions can not be 
reversed by the State School Commissioner." 

—W. B. Merritt, May 16, 1903. 

Note 12. Teacher's contract is an entire contract. 

''The appeal states that after teaching seventy-seven 
and one-half days, the said teacher resigned the said 
school, to accept another position, but his resignation 
was not accepted by the County Board; that previous 
to his resignation he had received payment for fifty- 
eight days ; that- he had taught nineteen and one-half 
days, for which he had received no pay ; that the County 
Board of Education refused to pay for teaching the 
nineteen and one-half days because the contract is con- 
sidered by said Board as an entire contract, and it was 
not fulfilled. 



EXTKACTS PEOM OPINIONS OF AtTOENEYS-GtENEKAL. 87 

''In this case, the Board of Education, under the cir- 
cumstances, would not abuse the discretion given it by 
law, if claims to said teacher were approved and paid, 
but in refusing to pay the said claim for teaching nine- 
teen and one-half days, the Board has not violated the 
law of contracts. This contract is in the nature of an 
entire contract. The law provides that the claims of 
teachers shall be paid when the funds are received by 
the County School Commissioner, and, as usual, the 
greater part of the school funds for 1903 was not 
received until months after the schools were taught. ' ' 

—W. B. Merritt, April 7, 1904. 

Note 13. Plan for operating schools for five or more consec- 
utive months. 

Generally it is more satisfactory to have the schools 
taught during consecutive months of the fall, winter and 
spring. Some counties have for one year operated their 
schools for three months in the spring, during Novem- 
ber and December the school term of that year was com- 
pleted ; beginning in January, a session of three or four 
months of the next year immediately followed. This 
plan has given good results in attendance and in the 
progress of pupils. A very great benefit has come to 
schools of these counties from the fact that this arrange- 
ment enables County Boards to pay teachers with very 
little delay. It is much easier to secure teachers if they 
are assured that they will be paid promptly, and that 
they will not be compelled to have their salaries dis- 
counted. I ask the careful consideration of your Board 
to this plan which is working so satisfactorily in many 
counties. 

The months in which the schools may be taught dur- 
ing the school year, or calendar year, may be selected 
by the County Boards of Education, as they think best, 
but it will not be lawful for a County Board of Educa- 
tion to approve for payment out of the funds appro- 
priated for one year any teaching that was done during 
any days except those included in the calendar year for 



88 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

wMch appropriations have been made. To illustrate: 
the contracts with teachers for the school year of 1905, 
and the claims of teachers based npon this contract, 
should be in consideration of teaching that is done only 
during the school year of 1905. — W. B. Merritt, Circular 
letter, August 17, 1904. 



EXTBACTS FEOM OPINIONS OF AtTOBNEYS-GeNEEAL. 89 



PART XV. 

EXTRACTS FROM DECISIONS OF STATE BOARD 
OF EDUCATION. 

Note I. Commissions to board members when grand jury 
fails to give terms. 

''When the action of the Grand Jury fails to indicate 
the terms for which two or more members of Boards of 
Education are chosen and there are terms of different 
lengths to be filled, the member or members first named 
by the Grand Jury shall be commissioned for the longest 
term or terms." 

November 30, 1888. 

Note 2. When County School Commissioner may contract 
with teachers of local school system. 

"A County School Commissioner has no right to enter 
into a contract with the teachers of a local school system. 

''The Act creating said local school system does not 
specifically state that pupils residing outside of the city 
limits may be permitted to attend the schools of such 
local school system and receive the benefits of the State 
school funds. It must, therefore, follow that pupils 
residing without the limits of the said city and attend- 
ing the schools of the said local system can not legally 
be allowed to participate in the State school funds for 
such attendance. This rule must apply to all local 
school systems except where the Act creating them 
expressly provides that pupils residing outside the city 
limits may be permitted to attend the schools of the 
local system and receive the benefits of the State school 
fund." — Decision of State Board of Education, March 
8, 1894, sustaining decision of State School Commis- 
sioner S. D. BradwelL 



90 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

Note 3. Use of surplus in hands of County School Commis- 
missioner. 
"Resolved, That the State School Commissioner is 
authorized to require County Boards of Education to 
use the surplus of school funds remaining in the hands 
of the County School Commissioner in payment of the 
accounts set out in itemized statements rendered." 

April 12, 1894. ^ 

(This surplus is reported in "Certificate as to Bal- 
ance on hand and Balance due" in itemized Statement.) 

Note 4. Common school subjects required. 

''Where a pupil studies five common school subjects, 
including arithmetic, grammar and history, and shall 
have passed an examination satisfactory to the County 
Board of Education upon the other common school sub- 
jects, that pupil shall be counted as a common school 
pupil. At the same time the following of the graded 
course of study for the common schools is urged. ' ' 

March 29, 1905. 



ExTEACTS FEOM OpiNioisrs OP Attorneys-Geneeal. 91 



PAET XVI. 

EXTRACTS FROM OFFICIAL OPINIONS OF 
ATTORNEYS-GENERAL. 

Note I. County Board may repudiate contract made by 
fraud. 

I would say that a board of education can certainly 
repudiate a contract made by fraud. A contract so 
obtained is not binding — Extract from letter of Attor- 
ney-General Wm. A. Little, May 14, 1892. 

Note 2. Diploma of State Normal School valid in certain 
cases. 

May 9, 1902. 
Hon. G. R. Glenn, State School Commissioner, Atlanta, 
Ga. 

My Deae Sie : — ^I am in receipt of the letter addressed 
to you by Mr. D. 0. Phillips, asking if his diploma, given 
by the Georgia State Normal School, was still valid as 
a license to teach in the schools of this State, he having 
received the same in 1897. 

In my opinion the diploma in question is valid as 
such a license and dispenses with the necessity of an 
examination as now prescribed by the general common 
school laws of the State. The Act of 1899, pages 51 and 
52, repealing the law making such diploma equal to a 
license expressly provides: 

''That nothing herein contained shall be construed to 
invalidate any license to teach in the schools of this 
State now held by any person. " 

See Acts of 1899, pages 51 and 52. 

Very truly yours, 

BoYKiisr Weight, 
Attorney-General. 



92 CoMPiLATioisr OF Common School Laws. 

Note 3. Right of County Board of Education to borrow 
money for payment of teachers. 

Atlanta, Ga., January 10, 1903. 
Hon. W. B. Merritt, State School Commissioner, 
Atlanta, Ga. 

Deae Sie : I beg to acknowledge your communication 
of January 5th, in which you make inquiry, and ask an 
official opinion, on the proposition whether the County 
Boards of Education can legally borrow money to pay 
the past due salaries of teachers of public schools. 

I am of the opinion that County Boards of Education 
may, to a limited extent, arrange to secure money for 
the payment of the past due salaries of public school 
teachers. 

The conditions, as I understand, are, viz.: Georgia 
is just one year behind in her obligations to her teach- 
ers. To illustrate: the fund to go to each county is 
determined on the first Tuesday in Dei .ember, 1902, and 
is paid out in 1903, pajnuents ranging from January to 
December, inclusive, of the last named year. In other 
words, it is ascertained by you as the State School Com- 
missioner, in December, 1902, the amount of school fund 
to which each county is entitled for that year, and it is 
disbursed by you and through the County Commissioner 
of that county during the year 1903, The amount of 
money, therefore, which any county is to get in 1903 is 
ascertained in 1902. Through you every County Com- 
missioner is informed of the specific amount of money 
that his county is to receive, and he in turn knows defin- 
itely, (as the result of a mathematical calculation, based 
upon the average attendance of the pupils in the public 
schools of that county or by contract), what each school 
is entitled to receive. The County Board of Education 
of every county knows, therefore, to a cent the amount 
of money the county of said is to receive, and the 
amount due as salaries to the teachers of that county. 
The Board of Education knows what it is to receive, 
knows whom it is to pay and the amount to be paid. 



EXTKACTS FROM OPINIONS OF ATTORNEYS- GeNEEAL. 93 

The debts are past due, the teachers need and want 
their money, the board recognizes the duty and neces- 
sity of prompt payment, but is unable to do so, because 
the fund is not in hand to pay with. 

The proposition is, whether the board may go to the 
bank or other persons having money to lend, arrange 
with the bank, or such person, to advance at a- reason- 
able discount the money which the State later on is to 
pay the board to pay the teachers. 

I understand you ask, whether the board can borrow 
the money under these conditions, and for this purpose. 
The legal question whether the board can borrow money 
to pay teachers, is hardly involved in this transaction. 
It is not borrowing money in the sense of creating a 
debt. It is a practical question and relates purely to 
the wise administration of the public school fund. I 
am as clear in my mind the Board of Education has the 
right to make this arrangement as I am clear in the 
opinion that the board has the right to do anything else 
that would add to the efficient operation of the schools. 
Under Section 1363 of the Code, the County Boards of 
Education have the right to "make all arrangements 
necessary to the efficient operation of the schools." 
The teachers of our public schools' of right ought to be 
paid promptly as other officials of the State are paid. 
But, aside from that, their prompt payment would result 
in better, more zealous teachers, and in consequence, 
untold good to the children generally. I believe, there- 
fore, that it is not only the right of the County Board of 
Education to arrange for an advance of this money, 
pledging for payment thereof, the fund to be paid the 
County Board of Education later on by the State, and 
pay the teachers promptly, but the policy of doing so 
has much in it to commend. ' 

Where this is done I do not see who could complain. 
I assume, of course, the County Boards of Education 
would faithfully and honestly expend the sum thus bor- 
rowed. Were they to do otherwise, they would be per- 
sonally responsible for an improper conversion of, the 



94 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

fund. Where the fund is faithfully expended no tax 
payer would have the right to complain, and no bene- 
ficiary could possibly be injured thereby. See in this 
connection 98 Ga., pages 696 and 697. 

Grrant, for the sake of argument, that the quotation 
from Section 1363 of the Code, referred to, does not in 
term, and of its own vigor, carry the right to borrow 
money, yet it is a sound proposition of law that where 
the money of a lender was actually applied to legitimate 
uses, the county could not, and would not, be heard to 
plead as a defense the want of authority in its officers 
to borrow. Such a defense would not only be contrary 
to law, but good morals as well. See 94 Ga. page 488. 

I am, therefore, of the opinion that the County Boards 
of Education have the right to arrange for an advance 
with the lender of money, not in excess of the deferred 
payment due the county, and to pledge therefor, or to 
sign, or transfer the amount to be paid by the State as 
security for the money thus advanced. 

Respectfully, 

John C. Hart, 
Attorney- General. 

Note 4. Limit of time, in using school fund. 

' ' The appropriation which the State makes yearly is, 
in a sense, a contribution by the people of the State to 
assist in the education of the children thereof, and a 
limitation of time and age is placed on each beneficiary. 
I recognize that it is the policy of the law-makers to 
clothe the several Boards of Education in this State 
with almost supreme power in the administration of the 
public school fund and to lodge with the Board such 
discretion is wise, but I am persuaded that for a Board 
to exercise the discretion to the extent of using money 
appropriated one year for another, would run counter 
to the legislative scheme and would be an abuse of dis- 
cretion. ' ' 

— Extract from letter of Attorney-General John C. 
Hart, July 1, 1903. 



EXTEACTS FKOM OPINIONS OF AtTORNEYS-GeNEKAL. 95 

Note 5. School population basis for apportionment of school 
funds to local school systems. 

I therefore advise, irrespective of any directions to 
the contrary in the Act creating the local school sys- 
tems, that you adopt the rule of apportionment between 
the local system and the county, using as a basis ''the 
proportion which the school population of the local sys- 
tem bears to the school population in the county." To 
illustrate, where the State has set apart $2,000 to a 
county as its pro rata part of the public school fund, 
and the county has in it school population of 2,000 peo- 
ple, and within the county is a local system having a 
school population of 500, the pro rata of money in that 
case due to the local system is the proportion which 500 
bears to 2,000. 

— Extract from letter of Attorney-General John C. 
Hart, August 26, 1903. 

Note 6. Marriage does not incapaciate women to teach in 
public schools of Georgia. 

"I do not think that the Board of Education is justi- 
fied in laying down the arbitrary rule that marriage in- 
capacitates a woman to teach school." * * * 

"A rule, therefore, adopted by a Board of Education, 
which fixes the penalty of ineligibility to teach as a con- 
sequence of marriage, is arbitrary, unjust and unreason- 
able. The Board may not have transcended the strict 
letter of the law in adopting the rule in question, but it 
occurs to me it is violative of 'public policy.' All women, 
whether married or single, should be given equal oppor- 
tunities in the pursuit of wealth and happiness." 
-—Extract from letter of Attorney-General John C. 
Hart, January 15, 1904. 

Note 7. Agriculture to be taught in all common or public 
schools of the State. 

"The Act requires that the elementary principles of 
agriculture shall be taught as thoroughly and in the 



96 COMPILATIOX OF COMMON SCHOOL LaWS. 

same maimer as other like required branches are studied 
and taught in the schools." * * * * * 
"It is my opinion that the Act referred to clearly re- 
quires that the elementary principles of agriculture shall 
be taught in all the common or public jschools in the 
State of Georgia, whether under your supervision or 
not, where the same receive aid from the State." 
— Extract from letter of Attorney-General John G. 
Hart, August 17, 1904. 

Note 8. Relief of surety on county school commissioner's 
bond. 

The application of the surety desiring to be relieved 
on the County School Commissioner's bond should be 
addressed to the Grovernor, stating the reasons why he 
should be relieved and should be sworn to. If the Gov- 
ernor deems the reasons for the relief of the surety suffi- 
cient he may order the surety relieved upon the condi- 
tion that the principal re-executes a valid bond satisfac- 
tory to the County Board of Education." 
— Extract from letter of Attorney-General John C. 
Hart, September 14, 1905. 

Note g. School officials can not discount claims of teachers. 

''In reply to your enquiry this day submitted, viz., 
whether a county school commissioner or members of 
the Boards of Education of this State may buy up at a 
discount, or in any manner speculate, in what are known 
as county orders or "scrip," or contracts which are to 
be paid out of the public funds of this State ; I beg leave 
to say I think such officers are public officers in the sense 
that it is made a misdemeanor for them to purchase 
such order, scrip or contract, as provided by Section 277 
of the Penal Code. " 

— Extract from letter of Attorney-General John C. 
-' H:dft,-Novemb€r, 190S. 



EXTEACTS PBOil DeCISI02s^S OF SuPBEME COUBT. 97 

Note 10. Opinion of Attorney-General on Railroad Taxes in 
school districts. 

"Eon. William A. Wright, Comptroller-General, At- 
lanta, Ga. 

"Deae Sie: I am in receipt of your enqniry of even 
date wherein yon raise the question whether corpora- 
tions that have made returns for their property for taxa- 
tion to your office may be required, under the Act ap- 
proved August 21, 1906, known as 'An Act to provide 
for the creation of local tax district schools,' to incor- 
porate in their return such of their property as may be 
within the boundaries of local school districts. 

"The purpose of this amendment is to cure a defect 
in the Act approved August 23, 1905, relative to the 
taxation of railroad property, which Act was declared 
by our Supreme Court iu the case of Brown et al. v. 
the Southern Eailway Company, as unconstitutional, in 
that it was antagonistic to Article 7, Section 1, para- 
graph 1 of the Constitution, for the reason that the ad 
valorem tax there imposed was upon the property only 
of taxpayers who were required by law to make return 
of their property to the county tax receiver, and omitted 
to tax the property of another class of taxpayers, such 
as railroads, who are required to make returns to the 
Comptroller-General. (See Brown et al. v. Southern 
Eailway Company, March term, 1906.) 

"The object of the amendment under investigation 
was to cure this defect and make specifically subject to 
taxation all property lying within the boundaries of the 
school district and to provide machinery for the collec- 
tion of the tax. The following language is found ^ 
Section 5 of this amendment, as follows: 'It is hereby 
made the duty of every such corporation in this State, 
in addition to the facts now required to be shown in their 
returns to the Comptroller-General, to also show in said 
returns the value of surh corporation's property in each 
of said school districts through which it runs, and for 
the purpose of enabling such corporation to show in said 
returns the value of its property in such school districts. 



98 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

it is hereby made the duty of the county superintendent 
of schools in each county to furnish, on or before Janu- 
ary 1, 1907, to each of such corporations, information as 
to the boundaries of each school district in which such 
corporation may have property, such as will enable such 
corporation to determine the amount of its property in 
such district, and he shall also furnish similar informa- 
tion whenever the boundaries of any school district may 
be changed.' 

' ' This language leaves no room for construction. The 
Act was passed and approved August 21, 1906, after the 
date required by law for the return of railroad property. 
In the absence of explicit language, a tax imposed is 
never to be retrospective in its application. The courts 
always construe statutes as prospective and not retro- 
spective, unless constrained to the contrary course by 
the rigor of the phraseology. (First Cooley on Taxa- 
tion, 494-495.) There is no language in this Act which 
w^ould admit of the construction that the Legislature in- 
tended that it should apply where returns had already 
been made, but on the contrary, there is this express pro- 
vision, that this detailed information was to be given 
'on or before January 1, 1907.' It was, of course, im- 
possible for the railroads to have anticipated the action 
of the Legislature in making their returns, and having 
made their returns in conformity with existing laws, and 
you, as Comptroller-General having accepted those re- 
turns, yourself not being able to anticipate the action of 
the Legislature, and the returns having been thus made 
and thus accepted as satisfactory to you, the transaction 
is closed. The law, however, by its terms, applies to 
future returns and not to past returns. It is prospec- 
tive and not retrospective. It is the settled policy of 
the Legislature to pass its tax Acts at least a year pre- 
ceding the year for which the tax was collectable. This 
has been the uniform practice and there is nothing in 
this Act which would authorize a departure from this 
practice, but on the contrary, an express provision that 
the mode of procedure was to become operative 'on or 
before Januray 1, 1907^' i 



EXTKACTS FROM OPINIONS OF AtTOENEYS-GeNERAL. 99 

"I am therefore of tlie opinion the late amendment 
providing for the collection of taxes out of corporations 
who make their returns to your office for taxation, so 
far as 'district school' taxes go, is not operative until 
January, 1907, but where counties as such have adopted 
local taxation for public schools, the law is as to such 
counties now operative, and such corporations are liable 
to the present year for the tax by virtue of the original 
Act independently of the late amendment; the original 
Act and the general law of force affording all the neces- 
sary machinery for the assessment, levy and collection 
of the tax. ' ' Yours very truly, 

' ' John C. Hart, Attorney-General. ' ' 

September, 1906. 

Note II. Managers of local tax elections to be paid out of 
school fund for that district. 

''I am not advised of any law in express terms author- 
izing the payment of managers for holding elections by 
county boards of education. The law provides for hold- 
ing the elections. It is hardly conceivable that managers 
should hold elections without compensation. I have 
advised that when an election is held for local taxation 
that it would be proper under the general powers con- 
ferred upon boards of education to advance the cause 
of education to provide for the payment of managers of 
a local election out of the funds apportioned to that dis- 
trict. Unless the power which I have referred to is not 
sufficiently broad to authorize the payment of managers, 
then, as stated, I know of no other source from which 
they could be paid. 

"I think therefore that it is proper for the managers 
to be paid out of the funds apportioned to that district 
holding the election. ' ' 

— Extract from a letter of Attorney-General Hart, June, 
1908. 



100 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

Note 12. Persons over eighteen years of age allowed in 
schools upon payment of tuition. 

''Under the law, as I interpret it, the right to attend 
the common schools of this State without the payment 
of tuition is restricted to boys and girls between the 
ages of six and eighteen, but I do not understand that 
the schools are closed to persons over eighteen who are 
willing to pay tuition. I read nothing in the law which 
denies to persons who have attained the age of eighteen 
from attending the common schools, and do not under- 
stand that it is the policy of the law to render ineligible 
to the common schools of this State persons of that age. 
The policy of the "law is to encourage people to attend 
school, and while it forbids the charge for tuition for 
persons between the ages of six and eighteen, it has not 
closed the school-house door to persons over that age 
who are willing to pay reasonable tuition. ' ' 
— Extract from a letter of Attorney -General Hart, July, 
1908. 

Note 13. Elections for local tax by counties or by districts 
can not be repeated oftener than every twelve months, 
but a district election may be held sooner when the 
county election failed. 

''The McMichael Act by Section 3 thereof provid- 
ing for an election at the instance of the county for 
the purpose of supplementing the public school fund by 
levying a tax upon the property of the county provides 
'an election for the same purpose shall not be held 
oftener than twelve months.' That is to say if the 
county voting as such fails to adopt county taxation 
that no election should be held for that purpose until 
after the expiration of twelve months. The McMichael 
Act by Section 4, providing for a local tax, that is to say 
a district tax, to supplement the funds received from the 
State for educational purposes, provides 'an election 
for the same purpose shall not be held oftener than 
every twelve months.' That is to say, if the district 



EXTEACTS FEOM OpINIOISTS OF AtTOENEYS-GeNEEAL. 101. 

votes against the adoption of a local tax no other elec- 
tion can be held by it as a district until the expiration of 
twelve months. 

"There is, however, in the Act no inhibition where a 
county as such votes for local tax and fails that a dis- 
trict within the county may not vote thereon within 
twelve months. The policy as expressed in the Mc- 
Michael Act is to advance the cause of education by pro- 
viding for taxation either by county or by district and 
the Act should be construed in the light of its clearly 
defined purpose. I am therefore of the opinion that 
notwithstanding a county having voted against county 
taxation that a district desiring to vote thereon need not 
wait twelve months before submitting the question of a 
local tax to the voters of the local district." 
— Extract from a letter of Attorney-General Hart, Sep- 
tember, 1908. 

Note 14. No provision for voting out a local tax. 

''The Act, commonly known as the McMichael Local 
Tax Act, makes no provision for voting out a local tax 
after the tax has been voted in by the citizens qualified 
to vote thereat in the local school district. There is, 
therefore, no provision of law, at present, for an elec- 
tion 'to disestablish' a local tax previously voted." 
— Extract from a letter of Attorney-General Hart, 
Nove'mber, 1908. 

Note 15. Boundary of local tax district can not be changed 
by Board of Education after the tax has been voted. 

"I am in receipt of your letter of the 11th inst., con- 
taining a request that I answer officially the inquiry: 
'May the Board of Education of a county change the 
boundary of a local school district by enlarging the 
local tax district so as to make subject to the local tax 
the territory added without the citizens thereof voting 
for the tax ? ' 

"I do not think the Board of Education has the 
authority to do this. Unquestionably the Board of 
Education may change the boundary of school districts, 



102 Compilation of Common School Laws. 

either for the purpose of enlarging or decreasing the 
territory, but when this is done the question of local 
tax for school purposes must be resubmitted to the citi- 
zens of the district. 

''The purpose of the McMichael Act, under which 
these districts are laid out is to allow counties or local 
districts to advance the cause of education by the levy 
of a county or local tax to supplement the money re- 
ceived from the State in aid of public schools. The 
right to levy this additional tax is left to the citizens of 
the county or district to be settled by vote. In other 
words the burden of additional taxation to support the 
schools is left to the people of the locality who are to 
bear the tax. The Act must be construed in the light 
of its purpose and the machinery provided for its ac- 
complishment. The Act authorizes a county as such 
to vote, a municipality or a rural community, to adopt 
its provisions, but only by a vote of the people. In no 
other way could a local tax be imposed. This is obliged 
to be the law, or else, if it be conceded that new terri- 
tory could be added to a district which voted for a local 
tax, then it would be possible for a single district in a 
county which had voted for the local tax, to absorb a 
county by merely enlarging the boundary of a local 
school district. The local tax could thus be imposed, 
not by vote of the people but merely by the Board of 
Education changing the district line. 

"Again, if the Board of Education may change the 
line by enlarging the territory, under the same prin- 
ciple they could by changing the line decrease the terri- 
tory and thus put the burden of taxation upon a limited 
few. 

''Again, if the Board of Education is authorized 
to change the boundary of a local district so as to add 
to it new territory where a local tax does not prevail, 
it may likewise change the district so as to add terri- 
tory from a local district to one not levying a tax and 
thus defeat the wish of the people to bear a tax for this 
purpose. 



EXTEACTS FROM OpIJSTIONS OF AtTOEFEYS-GeNEEAL. 103 

''The position of the voter at the time he votes is, 
with the lines as thus laid out, he is in favor of a local 
tax and so votes; and, therefore, for a Board of Edu- 
cation to change the line thereafter, either by enlarg- 
ing or diminishing the territory, should not bind the 
voter because different conditions would prevail by 
reason of any change than those existing at the time 
of iiis ballot. This would not be local option — a tax 
self-imposed by the voter — but might become a tax in 
spite of his objection. This would be neither within 
the letter nor the spirit of the McMichael Act. 

' ' I am of the opinion, therefore, that where a district 
has voted for a local tax, the Board of Education of a 
county has no authority to materially change the bound- 
ary and continue the tax without first submitting the 
question to the people in the old and the new territory 
to be effected by such change." 

— Extract from a letter of Attorney-General Hart, Jan. 
12, 1909. 



104 Compilation of Common School Laws. 



PART XVII. 

EXTRACTS FROM DECISIONS OF SUPREME COURT 
Note I. Bequest for board of education includes clothes. 

A child, to be educated, has to be clothed. And it is 
a general principle that a grant of the end is a grant of 
the means. According then to this principle, the be- 
quest of an education to the children was a bequest to 
them of their clothes during the period of their educa- 
tion. (Georgia Report, Vol. 28, page 370.) 

Note 2. Dismissal by local trustees for cruel treatment of 
pupils. 

Where, in 1876, local trustees chosen by the teacher 
and his patrons (conformably to the system established 
by the County Board of Education) dismissed the 
teacher for cruel treatment to pupils, and thereupon the 
matter was brought by the teacher before the Board, 
who after hearing evidence on both sides, approved the 
action of the trustees, and passed an order not revoking 
his license, but suspending him indefinitely as a teacher 
at that particular place ; the decision of the Board was 
upon a matter of ' ' local controversy in reference to the 
construction or administration of the school law," and 
not being appealed from, was binding upon all parties. 

For teaching done in defiance of such decision, and 
pending a possession of the school-house acquired by 
force, no right whatever accrued to compensation out of 
the common school fund. (Georgia Report, Vol. 61, 
page 413.) 

Note 3. County school commissioner may be compelled by 
mandamus to audit a claim. 

If this teacher was wrongfully treated by the Commis- 
sioner in the refusal to audit his account so as to give 



Extracts from Opinions of Attorneys- General. 105 

the Board of Education jurisdiction, his remedy was by 
mandamus to compel this ministerial officer to do his 
duty, if it was his duty to audit it. (Georgia Report, 
Vol. 67, page 481.) 

Note 4. Power to build schoolhouses. 

Unless there is something in the charter of a munici- 
pal corporation which forbids the building of school- 
houses, the city may do so. This is within the scope of 
the general powers of the municipal corporation, and is 
not prohibited by the Constitutiori^ of 1877. (Georgia 
Eeport, Vol. 73, page 686.) 

Note 5. Right of certain public officers to make defense. 

''That a public officer who has under the law a fixed 
term of office, and who is removable only for definite 
and specific causes, can not be removed without notice 
and a hearing on the charge or charges preferred 
against him, with an opportunity to make defense." 
(Georgia Report, Vol. 103, page 458.) 

Note 6. Methods of procedure when two persons claim same 
office. 

The Supreme Court has decided that whenever two 
persons are claiming the same office as member of the 
County Board of Education, and both persons hold com- 
missions, ''Such commissions would not be conclusive, 
but only prima facie evidence of their right to hold 
office. The officers sought to be removed * * * * 
could tiompel those presenting the new commissions to 
institute proper proceedings to test their legal right to 
the office. Moreover, the writ of injunction does not in 
such cases, lie against an executive officer of the State. ' ' 
(Georgia Report, Vol. 103, page 462.) 

Note 7. Discretion in continuing or discontinuing schools. • 

The County Board of Education of Richmond county 
has the discretionary power, under the law, of establish- 



106 Compilation op Common School Laws. 

ing or discontinuing high schools at such points in the 
county as the interest and convenience of the people 
may require. 

Under the facts of this case, there was no abuse of 
such discretion by the County Board in discontinuing 
the high school established for the colored race, al- 
though it left in operation a similar school for white fe- 
males and contributed to the support of the high school 
for white boys and girls, which, however, it had not es- 
tablished. (Georgia Report, Vol. 103, page 641.) 

No be 8. Refusal to coijiply with regulations. 

The authorities of a public school have full power to 
make it a part of the school course to write composi- 
tions, and enter into debates, and to prescribe that all 
pupils shall participate therein. 

Whether a particular subject given by such authori- 
ties for composition or debate is suited to the age and 
advancement of the pupil, is a question for determina- 
tion by such authorities, and not by the courts. 

Where a pupil has been instructed to prepare a paper 
on such a subject does not do so, or reads a paper pre- 
pared by her father, and containing expressions which 
are improper and disrespectful to the teacher, the of- 
fense is two-fold; and although the school authorities 
may excuse and condone the preparation by the father 
of the paper actually read, and also its reading by the 
pupil, the latter may still be punished for her failure to 
herself prepare a paper in compliance with instructions. 
If the punishment imposed be the preparation of a 
paper on the same subject, at a later date, and the pupil 
refuse to prepare it, such pupil may be disciplined by 
expulsion, or suspension, or other proper punishment. 
(Georgia Report, Vol. Ill, page 801.) 



Extracts peom Opinions of Attoeneys-General. 107 



EXTRACT FROM DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF 

APPEALS. 

Board of Education of Miller County v. Fudge, et al. Wil- 
liams, County School Commissioner, v. Board of Edu- 
cation of Miller County. (Nos. 1,171, 1,183.) 

''1. Funds derived by County Boards of Education 
borrowing money are not included in county school 
funds, and the proper receipt and disbursement of such 
boi^owed money is not one of the duties of a County 
School Commissioner by virtue of his office. 

^^ (a). A contract of suretyship is to be strictly con- 
strued in the interest of the surety. The risk of a surety 
on a County School Commissioner's bond may be in- 
creased by his being intrusted by the County Board of 
Education with large sums of money to be disbursed 
under the orders of a County Board of Education, which 
moneys were not received as a part of the common 
school fund, nor at the times provided by law for the 
payment of such fund. 

''(6). Sureties upon the bond of a County School 
Commissioner are not liable, upon a bond providing for 
the faithful discharge of his duties, for any moneys 
borrowed by such County Board of Education. In the 
case of such loans to County Boards of Education, the 
entire transaction is individual and not official. 

"2. In a case where an action can not be maintained 
against the sureties on an official bond, because the mal- 
feasance or dereliction of duty of their principal is per- 
sonal and not official, neither can the action be main- 
tained upon the contract as against the principal, though 
he may, in an action of a different nature, be individu- 
ally liable. 

"3. The power to make arrangements for the effi- 
cient operation of schools, conveyed by Section 1,363 of 
the Political Code of 1895, does not include the power to 
borrow money." 

July 31st, 1908. 



108 Compilation of Common School Laws. 



PART XVIII. 
LIST OF STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Name. Location. Principal. 

University of Georgia Athens D. C. Barrow, Chancellor. 

Georgia School of Technology. . .Atlanta K. G-. Matheson, Chairman 

of Faculty. 
Georgia Normal and Industrial 

College Milledgevaie. .M. M. Parks, President. 

State Normal School Athens E. C. Branson, President. 

North Georgia Agricultural Col- 
lege Dahlonega . . . G E. Glenn, President. 

Georgia School for the Deaf Cave Spring. .W. O. Connor, Principal. 

Georgia Academy for the Blind. Macon Thos. U. Connor, Principal. 

Georgia State Industrial College . Savannah E. E. Wright, President. 



District Agricultural Schools. 

First District Statesboro . . . J. W. Hendricks, Principal. 

Second District Tifton W. G. Acree, Principal. 

Third District Americus ... .J. M. Callum, Principal. 

Fourth District CarroUton J. H. Melson, Principal. 

Fifth District Monroe G. C. Adams, Principal. 

Sixth District Bamesville . . .M. B. Dennis, Principal. 

Seventh District Powder Spgs. .H. E. Hunt, Principal. 

Eighth District Madison Jos. F. Hart, Jr., Principal. 

Ninth District Clarksville . . . J. N. Eogers, Principal. 

Tenth District Granite Hill . .W. H. Maxwell, Principal. 

Eleventh District Douglas C. W. Davis, Principal. 



Extracts feom Opinions of Attorneys-Geneeal. 109 



BOOKS ADOPTED FOR THE, COMMON 
5CHOOL5 OF GEORGIA. 



110 Compilation op Common School Laws. 






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